Nebraskans have chance to support ethanol industry
The price of gasoline is creeping up again, hitting an average of $2.14 a gallon nation wide.
If a recovering economy boosts demand, can $4 gasoline be far behind?
Perhaps we'd be OK with paying that price or higher, if it meant more jobs, especially in the Southwest Nebraska oil industry, which has nearly ground to a halt with the general decline in crude oil prices.
And we'd be OK with higher gasoline prices if it made ethanol more attractive, putting the Cambridge plant back into operation.
But rather than wait for the situation to change, there's something we can do now.
Dennis Gengenbach of Smithfield, a member of the Nebraska Corn Board, is asking the public to support an increase in ethanol blend from 10 percent to 15 percent for conventional vehicles.
By increasing the blend to 15 percent, the United States can add 130,000 jobs and displace some seven billion gallons of gasoline -- much of it made with foreign oil.
Ethanol reduces greenhouse gas emissions, enhances rural communities, adds jobs and generates tax revenue for our counties and state, all while reducing the cost of fuel to consumers and reducing our dependence on foreign oil, Gengenbach said.
Nebraska's 26,000 corn farmers add $1.4 billion to the state's economy each year with the fuel, fertilizer and seed they purchase to put their corn crop in the ground.
"But, if we don't expand our opportunities for ethanol then we run the risk of losing that industry and important market," he said.
Farmers will be receiving a card to mail into the EPA in support of corn-based ethanol, and anyone can go to http://www.nebraskacorn.org or www.NeCGA.org and respond electronically.
"We have all worked too hard to see this industry and renewable fuel source go by the wayside," Gengenbach said.
We agree. Making our voice heard by writing or logging in to the Web sites is a way we can make a difference.