Forwarded by Jane Clark at [log in to unmask]

The Des Moines Register has indicated they want to hear from renewable
energy advocates.  Consider what you can do: write a letter to the editor
or
a column. READ ON:

----- Original Message -----
From: Edward Woolsey <[log in to unmask]>
ent: Wednesday, October 04, 2000 12:56 PM
Subject: FYI Need Letters to the Editor

> Howdy
> I was lucky enough to have this letter to the editor(below) published in
the October 1st issue of the Des Moines Sunday Register.
>
> The editorial page editor called Monday and said they were going to try
to
> keep the energy issue alive for a couple of weeks.  Now is the time for
you to write some letters.  The Gov's energy task force will be meeting in
the next couple of weeks and it would be a good thing for them to be
hearing
> from us.  Letters to the Editor.     [log in to unmask]
> Best chance is with letters 300 words or less.
> Good Luck.
> Ed
>
> Friday, September 22, 2000
>
> Dear Editors:
>
> Use Iowa's resources to improve our energy situation
>
> Over the last year Iowans have heard about electric deregulation,
electric
> blackouts or rolling electric brownouts and the potential for much higher
> electric prices.  We have seen our gasoline prices go from 99 cents a
gallon to over two dollars a gallon and hear that we are increasingly
dependant
on foreign sources of oil and increasing problems with our balance of trade
> deficit.
>
> If there is one thing that should be very clear by now, it is, that our
> federal government has no clue what it is doing with its energy policy.
> While this Federal policy or non-policy places Iowa in a very precarious
> position, it should also motivate us to start doing some things for
> ourselves.
>
> Iowa is blessed with incredible natural resources.  Our wind energy can
> produce many times the total energy we use in the state every year.  Our
> farmers can convert many types of plants (corn stalks, hog manure, waste
> wood, switchgrass, etc.) into electricity and process steam and/or the
clean burning liquid transportation fuel, ethanol.
>
>  Harvesting these new "energy crops" will add high paying, technical jobs
to rural Iowa, help farm income,clean the air, and if done correctly, help
clean our water and provide our businesses with very important technologies
and commodities to export.
>
> Exporting wind turbines and ethanol plants will help developing countries
> (as well as ourselves) much more than McDonalds and Nike.
>
> For every one cent of the  20 cents in Iowa state gasoline fuels tax, the
> State brings in about $17 million dollars.  A couple of cents worth of
gas
> tax going into renewables would be a big help.  Shifting one or two cents
of the Iowa tax on ethanol blended fuel to gasoline would be revenue
neutral
> for the State, and could provide a big boost for small scale ethanol
> producers.
>
>  The reason ethanol prices recently increased along with gasoline
> prices is that there are to few producers.  We need more producers.  The
> ethanol industry currently estimates a four fold increase in ethanol
demand over the next four years.  Iowa farmers can and should own and
operate their own production facilities.
>
> For our renewable electricity generators, (biomass,wind) perhaps a
> reasonable market for their clean electricity would be a good start.
> Developing a "public benefit fund" from a few cents more a month on our
> electric bill going to these efforts would provide a huge boost for the
new industry.
>
> There are many ways to move Iowa into a better more secure energy
situation.
> While Senators Grassley and Harkin have made excellent progress at the
> Federal level it is clear that they have too much opposition from the
very
> well financed fossil fuels industry.
>
> We in Iowa need to quickly incorporate
> some good old "common sense" into a new Iowa based energy policy.
>
> Ed Woolsey
> Prole, Iowa
> 515-764-2689
> 515-669-7335 cell
>

If you need some facts, figures or ideas, please reply to this email or
call
me.

Michelle Kenyon
Iowa SEED Coalition Coordinator
Iowa Citizen Action Network
(319) 354-8116
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