UP & DOWN

What a year it's been!

As we make the stretch run from the Thanksgiving Turkey to the end of a year defined by incomprehensible volatility, it is difficult not to feel emotionally drained.  It seems as though we have spent the year reeling from one hysterically reported macro-event to another, with a consistent political background noise like fingernails on a chalkboard.

In many ways, it appears that there is just too much informational content erupting across the country for anyone to focus too long on any one problem.  And therein lies a significant challenge for Springboard Biodiesel, the biodiesel industry at large and the country's vital overall alternative energy policy.  When oil was $147 bbl a mere 4 months ago, it was the number one pain point for the majority of Americans.  As a result, despite public hand wringing sessions that further damaged our confidence in our political leaders, record Big Oil profiteering and more than a few embarrassingly inane policy recommendations (see previous post "Don't Spit into Tornadoes below and (McCain/Clinton Gas Tax Holiday Slammed), a big picture message started to gain real traction:  We can not afford - economically, environmentally or securely - to depend on finite, dirty petroleum sources to fuel our economy.

Of course, no one solved the problem.  There wasn't that much time, and it is a problem not solved with a single silver bullet.  However, we had the emergence of a real dialog.  The problem was front and center.  People weren't going to stand for $100 fill-ups, and our national angst created a growing policy urgency, which looked like it might ultimately begin the process that would begin the national march down the path of meaningful alternative energy production.

Today, four months and hundreds of billions of bailout dollars later, the financial sector is on its knees, home foreclosures and job losses continue to escalate, Detroit, Inc. is clutching at straws, and oil costs $46/bbl - down a staggering $100/bbl.  The bloom seems to have faded from the alternative energy rose.  Biodiesel and its cousins, solar, wind, geothermal et al, are fast in danger of falling off the radar screen.  While our President-elect appears committed to trying to push through an agenda that should offer substantially more support for the alternative energy industries than his predecessor did, with so much economic fear and confusion, I worry that Mr Obama will be hard pressed to jumpstart beneficial programs.  By design they cost money, and in the face of sub-$2 gas (and $2.40/gallon diesel), the risk is that these programs get mothballed.

The oil producing nations didn't amass hundreds of billions over the course of the last 12 months because they are unintelligent.  Their recent decision not to decrease output means that the West's oil appetite gets sated more cheaply, thereby diminishing the URGENCY to find an alternative, and assuring future revenue streams to the oil producers.

We have spent too many years ignoring reality, ignoring the fact that by depending on petroleum, we cede control of our economy and our environment to external powers.  It is time to act proactively and intelligently.  If we want to avoid another near term oil price spike and, more importantly, try to slow and then stop irreversible climate change, which will make the current financial crisis seem like a bull market, we have to continue to invest in alternative energy technologies.  And that investment will not happen without supportive government policy and thoughtful actions by individuals - consumers need to be willing to use their wallets preferentially.  For by supporting those companies that offer compelling alternative energy solutions, we will be supporting the future vibrancy of our economy.

As always I urge you to contact your elected officials and remind them that this is a top priority for YOU: http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml