Achieving energy freedom for the people of Washington

WOULD you rather buy fuel grown by local farmers — or oil pumped from Saudi Arabia? We can have clean, renewable sources of fuel that aren't affected by whatever happens in Louisiana or Iraq. This is a bold vision. But if we take strong action, the people and businesses of Washington state can enjoy energy freedom.

Our economy is based on cheap oil. Yet, even Big Oil admits the world is running out of oil, with millions more people in developing countries trading their bicycles for cars. The era of cheap oil is over.

Watch out for quick fixes from politicians saying just drill for more oil in our parks, pass some tax breaks or build a refinery in Hoquiam — whether the people in Hoquiam like it or not. More of the same won't get the job done.

Our choice is simple: Join the global scramble as more buyers chase less and less oil; or find another way.

Rudolf Diesel ran his engines on peanut oil back in 1900. Henry Ford designed the Model T to burn ethanol — alcohol — saying it was the "fuel of the future." In 1937, President Roosevelt stood at the finished Grand Coulee Dam in our state and talked about the importance of bringing clean, cheap, renewable electricity to every community in our state, big or small.

In 2005, we need to make sure farmers, businesses and citizens have clean, cheap, renewable fuel. This state is in the perfect position to achieve energy freedom. We have the best farmers and scientists in the world. What's missing? The vision and willpower to get the job done.

There's no point in any more studies, task forces or delays. Let's get to work.

We can create an instant market for local farmers to grow biofuel. We can insulate citizens and businesses from the huge spikes in global oil prices. Whether the recent increases at the pump are due to unpreventable market forces, as some say, or opportunism on the parts of producers, as others maintain, the fact is that the average consumer has taken a serious hit in the pocketbook ... and very little of that extra cash stays here in the state, where it can do some good.

And we can sell our clean, renewable biofuel — and the technology to produce it — around the world.

To achieve energy freedom, here is what we will do:

Jumpstart the local market — Let's give our farmers an instant market for growing biofuel crops. We don't need complicated regulations or tax credits that may never get used. Instead, we can simply change the law to say this: State and local governments will fill vehicles with a blend of biodiesel or biogas. That creates a huge market for biodiesel, since our ferries, school buses and fire engines run on diesel.

It also creates big demand for biogas — ethanol — because state and local governments have thousands of cars. Local police and state troopers put millions on their patrol cars. Let's get them fueled by local farmers.

Minnesota recently did something similar, requiring all diesel sold in that state be a blend of 2 percent biodiesel.

Grow it here — Biodiesel plants in the works have to truck in soybeans from the Midwest. Instead, let's use our local farmers. We're exploring a 5-million-gallon biodiesel plant built at one of three locations: the Spokane Valley, Columbia County or Lincoln County.

The Spokane Conservation District has a thousand local farmers who could use a Spokane Valley location. Up to a half-million acres in the Spokane region are suitable to produce biodiesel. If fully utilized, that acreage could create 25 million gallons of biodiesel every year. Last year, our nation produced 35 million gallons of biodiesel, total.

Washington state could also lead the way in creating biofuels in other ways:

Biofuel from waste — You can make biofuel out of wood chips or cow chips, vegetable waste or the used vegetable oil restaurants throw out.

Biogas — Making ethanol (alcohol) is simple. You can make it from corn, potatoes, wheat, fruit or certain waste products that are just going into landfills now.

We'll take action on this right away when the Legislature meets in January, so farmers know what to plant in April and biofuel is flowing in September.

Local power — For decades, we relied on clean, cheap, renewable power from our dams. The population has grown; those days are over. To keep prices low — and so another Enron can't jack up your power bill — we put money in the state construction budget to pre-approve permits for windmills on farms. We also passed laws and tax breaks for clean, renewable power.

More needs to be done. The world market for oil and power has become dangerously unpredictable.

The details are complicated. The decision is not: change versus more of the same. New ideas or the failed ideas of the past.

We can sit back and let OPEC and Big Oil control our economic future. Or we can take strong action to achieve energy freedom for the people, farmers and businesses of Washington state.