Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: RonF
To my knowedge, the term "agriculture" includes not only waving fields of grain, but also raising livestock. I think the latter is a major activity in the area being discussed here.

Why of course it is...but don't you think the threat posed by these wells to cattle on this rangeland (range that requires acres and acres to support one cow-calf unit) is vastly overstated by those who are blocking the development of this resource...a resource that is critical to our national security for the next generation or so?

By the way, that same cow-calf unit can be produced using dollar fifty Iowa corn grown on a fraction of one acre. More and more of that corn ground is being used to produce ethanol as a gasoline supplement. Of course the same vehicles being fueled by that blend would run on natural gas with no problem.

46 posted on 07/05/2002 12:58:52 PM PDT by EternalVigilance
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies ]


To: EternalVigilance; RonF
To my knowedge, the term "agriculture" includes not only waving fields of grain, but also raising livestock. I think the latter is a major activity in the area being discussed here.
Two things:
"raising livestock" means "growing grass", and you need some unsalty water to do that (I'm not a rancher, I don't even play one on TV).

People who raise cattle will actually pay for a block of salt to throw on the ground for the cows. Water which is potable but slightly salty for irrigation sounds like a cow's idea of soda pop. Australia has some artesian wells (or did way back when I was in grade school) which were exactly that way, and the use of it for cattle was significant enough to get a mention in a Pennsylvania geography book.

Now if you could get the cow to pee into a desalination plant, you'd really be ahead of the game!

Why of course it is...but don't you think the threat posed by these wells to cattle on this rangeland (range that requires acres and acres to support one cow-calf unit) is vastly overstated by those who are blocking the development of this resource...a resource that is critical to our national security for the next generation or so?

By the way, that same cow-calf unit can be produced using dollar fifty Iowa corn grown on a fraction of one acre. More and more of that corn ground is being used to produce ethanol as a gasoline supplement. Of course the same vehicles being fueled by that blend would run on natural gas with no problem

. . . or if you wanted style points you could convert the natural gas to methyl alchohol, and mix it with gasoline. Another way of getting "gasahol" . . .

but of course the real style points are for inefficiency--inflating the cost of production with make-work . . .


95 posted on 07/06/2002 11:28:30 AM PDT by conservatism_IS_compassion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 46 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson