Switchgrass and Wood Chips

I offer my apologies to my neighbors in the EMU community. When Harrisonburg finally experiences its winter thaw and the grass in my yard begins growing again, I will not be cutting mine.

No, it is not in protest to the growth of suburbia in our fair town, though that would be an appropriate statement to make. Believe me when I say that I am not trying to protest anything or make anyone mad. My decision to let the grass grow tall is purely economic.

Anyone who watched our president speak last Tuesday evening knows exactly what I am talking about. The solution to all our problems is grass. Well, switchgrass and wood chips to be specific.

With the insurgency still strong in Iraq and terrorists threatening the world oil distribution system daily, our nation is in clear danger. It goes without mention that we cannot count on those commies in Venezuela or those spineless Democrats blocking drilling in ANWR to save us. That's where the switchgrass and wood chips come into play. With the president's funding, American scientists will soon be able to use that grass and wood to make ethanol. In twenty years that grass and wood ethanol will reduce our dependency on Middle Eastern oil by 75% according to the president.

Bold statements, Mr. President, but I'll one-up you. I say that all of our gasoline consumption should be replaced by these innovative grass and wood fuel sources. Roughly speaking, the United States uses 400 million gallons of gasoline everyday. With an acre of switchgrass amounting to roughly 1100 gallons of ethanol per year, we will need to plant around 133 million acres of this hearty grass per year.

One hundred thirty-three million acres may sound like a lot of land. It is, but, more importantly, it's an opportunity. For those of you that were not aware, a day after the president recommitted the nation to providing a solid education for its citizens, the House of Representatives passed a budget cut that wipes out billions in federal college loan funding. Put more simply, not only are 18-22-year-olds fighting the war in Iraq, we're paying for it too.

Where will we college students get all this money? Switchgrass farming, of course. With the president supporting the switch to grass and wood for fuel, the grass market is bound to explode. The President joked on Wednesday that he may even get into switchgrass farming on his ranch in Texas. I intend to beat him to it. Our nation depends on it.

Contact Galen at galen.wenger@emu.edu