Careful What You Wish For

It is ironic that environmentalist hype about global warming and green calls for alternative fuels are undermining some of the greens’ very own programs and objectives. A story in Greenwire (3/4/08) details the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s proposal to use land in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) to grow and harvest native grasses to support “cellulosic ethanol energy.”

Under CRP, farmers are paid by the federal government not to use 34 million acres of land, leaving habitat for wildlife. The greens are complaining that harvesting the grasses will deprive birds of vital habitat. Perhaps they should have thought about such possibilities before they lobbied for federal control of so much of the nation’s energy, land, and other natural resources. After all, there is a reason why people laugh at the phrase: “Trust me, I am from the government.”