E85 Opposition Grows
Good news! The April issue of Ethanol Producer Monthly (EPM) is already online! Actually, if Sarah Smith’s article “Ethanol’s Excedrin Headache: Where Have All the Good Sites Gone?” is anything to go by, the news isn’t that great for the mag’s target market. EPM has identified organized ethanol plant protests in 14 states. “Rural communities that once heralded the arrival of an ethanol plant are now thumbing their noses at them.” Before listing litigation from California to Wisconsin, Smith gives ethanol boosters a quick course in how not to win friends and influence people. “Plaintiffs swap strategies over the Internet, trade petition forms, success stories, failures, even going so far as to design T-shirts and coin the perfect acronym for their groups. Their reasons for filing causes of action are as myriad as the ethanol technology itself: not in my back yard, zoning board decisions, economic benefit, industry distrust, environmental concerns and water use issues. The view from the third tee box, listed in one cause of action, illustrates the lengths plaintiffs will go to halt a project in its tracks. After all, golf is life, isn’t it?”