CHENANGO COUNTY – Recent calls from Washington to decrease the country’s dependence on foreign oil by boosting the renewable energy supply and infrastructure have not fallen on deaf ears locally.
U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), along with U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri (D-Utica), have weighed in on the energy debate in past few weeks, sponsoring or co-sponsoring proposals that aim to increase renewable energy production.
Plymouth farmer Giff Foster, who produces and uses 65 to 75 gallons of biodiesel per week, said he understands alternative energy solutions first-hand. Foster, along with the Chenango County Farm Bureau, is rallying local agricultural producers and residents to help start a renewable energy cooperative in the area, and he’s also been involved with Rob Reiber of Port Crane to start a bio-fuels processing plant in Bainbridge. Foster believes – given politicians are sincere in their efforts – that convincing not only farmers, but consumers, to buy into the idea of producing and using these resources – like vegetable oil-based bio-fuels and cellulosic (non-food-based) ethanol – will be a major key to winning energy independence.
“I would think that most Americans would rather pay a local American energy farmer for fuel than some foreign fossil fuel conglomerate, such as OPEC,” said Foster. “My mother always said ‘investment begins at home,’ and I truly believe this is an exceptional opportunity for consumers and investors to ‘keep it local.”
President George W. Bush is pushing for America’s gasoline consumption to be reduced by 20 percent in ten years. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy recently allotted $385 million for the development and construction of six cellulosic ethanol plants in California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, South Dakota, and Virginia. The facilities are expected to produce 130 million gallons of fuel per year.
“New York state missed out on that one,” said Edwin White, a professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. “But the federal government is recognizing that we have to disperse this ethanol production across the country, and that we have to make it from sources other than corn.”
White, who also heads The Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems, said the maximum amount of fuel that corn could supply is 10 billion gallons annually, compared to the 160 billion gallons of gas the country consumes each year.
Chenango County was in the running for smaller scale bio-fuels and ethanol plants, said Commerce Chenango President Maureen Carpenter, but the current loss of the New York Susquehanna & Western railroad from Greene to Sherburne has greatly lowered the county’s consideration in those endeavors.
From White’s perspective, the state as a whole is ahead of the alternative energy curve. He pointed out leading research efforts at Cornell University, Clarkson University, SUNY ESF, and SUNY Morrisville. He added that there are waste ethanol plants slated to be located in Lyons Falls and Rochester, along with four other corn ethanol plants in the works in other parts of the state. White believes that strong government funding and support will be integral to the state’s and country’s energy future.
“It is the federal and state government that are going to have to put up the money,” he said. “We have got to quit sending money to the middle east. We have the technology, we just need the people with the vision to do it.”
White, Foster, and Bradd Vickers, President of the Chenango County Farm Bureau, have all endorsed the national “25 by 25” program, which aims to have agriculture producing 25 percent of the nation’s energy supply by 2025.
Last week U.S. representative Michael Arcuri (D-Utica) announced he’s co-sponsoring a bill that would expedite implementing domestic and commercial alternative energy solutions nationwide – mainly related to cellulosic ethanol production and distribution.
“It is far past time for us as a nation to stand up for national security, the environment, and economic development to make our alternative energy future a reality,” Arcuri said. “We desperately need real progress toward objectives like domestic incentives for alternative fuel-friendly cars and improvements in how we make alternative fuels more mainstream – rather than more rhetoric.”
However, while he applauds Arcuri’s effort, Foster said he’s skeptical if politicians are yet to truly understand the inner-workings of renewable fuels production in rural areas.
“I invite Mr. Arcuri to visit my farm and see how the current energy crisis has affected one small farmer,” said Foster, “and see how necessity has promoted a ‘grass roots’ reaction to reduce our energy costs as well as airborne emissions.”