Forest Service chief: Use trees to power cars

[Kadie]

Forest Service chief: Use trees to power cars
Kimbell proposes using wood- and brush-based ethanol as gas alternative


Updated: 37 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Forest Service chief is proposing replacing 15 percent of the nation's gasoline with ethanol made from wood, while doubling the amount of carbon dioxide emissions absorbed by public and private forests.

"These are ambitious goals, and they would take a concerted national effort to reach," Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell said in remarks prepared for a speech before the Society of Environmental Journalists Friday night in San Francisco.

They also appear contradictory. But such a plan is consistent with President Bush's goal cutting gasoline use by 20 percent while expanding reliance on ethanol, which is a central part of his energy policy. He has sent Congress a proposal mandating the use of 35 billion gallons a year of "alternative" fuels, mostly ethanol, by 2017.

Kimbell said that "with the technologies now becoming available, we could replace as much as 15 percent of our current gasoline consumption with ethanol from wood -- and not just any wood, but wood that is not now being used for other purposes."

snip...
Asked how the nation could churn out vastly more wood for ethanol while rapidly growing more forests, Kimbell's spokeswoman, Allison Stewart, said in an interview Friday night that the wood for ethanol would come mainly from brush that the Bush administration's "healthy forests" law now requires to be thinned to prevent wildfires.

"A lot of our forests across our country are unhealthy because they're overstocked. There's a lot of unhealthy underbrush," Stewart said. "That's where we're talking about getting the bio-energy from. It's from the reduction of flammable fuels in the forests -- instead of just burning it up in piles or grinding it up."

more...
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20650013



President Bush speaks about cellulosic ethanol made from spruce wood chips during a tour of a biotechnology company in Franklinton, N.C., in February. Forest Service Chief Abigail Kimbell says the U.S. should replace 15 percent of its gasoline with ethanol made from wood and brush cleared from forests.

[begin_within]

1. The lard from Dick Cheney's fat ass would power 12,500 cars.

[datadiva]

2. Oh, now that make sense

:crazy: Cut down more trees, create more global warming by doing so. If it was just brush you could understand it but you know that is not what they are talking about. Thin out the forests instead of cleaning up the mess underneath the trees caused by years of not letting nature takes its course.

[tech3149]

3. sort of like cutting out your lungs to keep your heart beating

for a few more minutes. You can't live without either and the earth has to be viewed as any other biological being. You can't tear up one part of the being without affecting the health of that being. You'll most likely kill it.

[jmowreader]

4. The Forest Service is in the Department of Agriculture for a reason

The Forest Service operates under a "sustainable multi-use management concept." One of the uses of the forest land they manage is cropland--specifically, "forest products" such as lumber, paper and...yes, cellulosic ethanol.

It's not politically correct around here to suggest growing trees for harvest is a good thing, but consider the poplar. There's no such thing as "old growth" poplar because the tree grows to immense size in a very short period of time--harvestable for firewood in five years, for pulp or cellulosic ethanol in eight years, for lumber in ten. It is a very effective carbon sink. It will grow anywhere in the US, and when you cut one down IT GROWS BACK!!!