GoodFuels

Chasing Wild Geese

According to Dennis Avery of the Hudson Institute, ethanol could be the culprit behind the U.S. Airways flight that landed in the Hudson River last week.

If this is not a bird-brained theory, I don’t know what is.

Avery’s premise extends from a Time Magazine article that blames global warming for the incident, but he says, “Time reached the wrong conclusion. Research indicates we should blame the prosaic corn harvester-and perhaps our attempt to expand corn production for biofuels.”

He says that there has been a five-fold increase in the number of Canadian geese since 1970 because of the type of harvesting equipment used by corn farmers and because of the increase in corn acreage in the Northeast.

While he blames ethanol for the increase in geese, Avery’s solution to the problem of geese getting sucked into airplane engines is not reducing corn plantings or eliminating subsidies - it’s better bird-strike prevention and “more real goose research.”

This is irresponsible commentary and Good Fuels readers are urged to take Avery to task on it.

Comment on Avery’s article here.