[count-your-change]

Evidently you haven't farmed or used farm machinery. Stalks are usually left in the field because a corn picker or combine isn't able to handle them. It's not waste, it adds organic material to the soil and there is no way at present to bale them and if there was they aren't worth the energy.
To get right to it: Right now about $40 billion worth of natural gas is flared off (that means just burned off in the air) each year around the world. The U.S. has the infrastructure to distribute it, the technology to liquefy it and ship it. But what did you mention? Coal and oil shale. Natural gas needs no farm land and little processing yet you stand in thrall of “biomass” while a very clean fuel is available to replace dirtier fuels. There is not enough LNG ports to take advantage of one the best fuels in the world yet the arguments are over what kind of grass to process. If you're concerned about greenhouse gases, remember the gas is burning anyway so burning it here adds nothing since it can replace dirty fuels.
If someone wants my corn to make ethanol he should pay a fair price and if he wants my biomass he will have to pay well for it too. You make a profit from it, I want some of the money. In short, there ain't going to be no cheap ethanol no matter the source.

[neverdem]

Evidently you haven't farmed or used farm machinery. Stalks are usually left in the field because a corn picker or combine isn't able to handle them. It's not waste, it adds organic material to the soil and there is no way at present to bale them and if there was they aren't worth the energy.

So be it, if you say so. Green Giant, BirdsEye, other vegetable processors still have all of the other vegetable matter which they have to dispose. There's quite a range of biomass that can be harvested for energy.

To get right to it: Right now about $40 billion worth of natural gas is flared off (that means just burned off in the air) each year around the world. The U.S. has the infrastructure to distribute it, the technology to liquefy it and ship it. But what did you mention? Coal and oil shale. Natural gas needs no farm land and little processing yet you stand in thrall of “biomass” while a very clean fuel is available to replace dirtier fuels. There is not enough LNG ports to take advantage of one the best fuels in the world yet the arguments are over what kind of grass to process.

If the U.S. can recover our own flared off natural gas, that helps the dollar and our current account deficit. When terror is still a possibility, who wants a LNG port in their backyard?

If you're concerned about greenhouse gases, remember the gas is burning anyway so burning it here adds nothing since it can replace dirty fuels.

I'm not concerned about making carbon dioxide. I want energy independence. Better yet, I would like to see the U.S. export energy and energy related biotechnology. Photosynthesis makes organic matter naturally. I want to undermine the world market of oil and gasoline that supports the likes of Russia, Iran, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc. I don't like a cheap dollar.

If someone wants my corn to make ethanol he should pay a fair price and if he wants my biomass he will have to pay well for it too. You make a profit from it, I want some of the money. In short, there ain't going to be no cheap ethanol no matter the source.

Why not let the market sort it out? I'd rather pay an American than someone from a foreign country.