Putting Ethanol on the Offensive

Ethanol Producer Magazine
July 2008
By Toni Nuernberg

December 1776 was a desperate time for George Washington and the American Revolution. The ragtag Continental Army, encamped along the Pennsylvania shore of the Delaware River, was exhausted, demoralized and uncertain of its future.

Washington’s army—after narrowly escaping British troops and retreating into Pennsylvania—was viewed as merely an annoyance soon to be swatted into oblivion like a bothersome bee at a picnic.

2008 may feel like similarly desperate times for the renewable fuels movement and the U.S. ethanol industry. Dogged by naysayers from environmentalists to the oil industry and humanitarian organizations to others within American agriculture, we find our industry accused of causing a global food crisis.

At this point in the American Revolution, Washington recognized he had to do something and quickly. His decision was to attack the British.

The Ethanol Promotion and Information Council, through the Renewable Fuels Now campaign, has followed Washington’s lead, attacking our foes in the food-vs.-fuel war of words.

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