WE SHOULDA KNOWN BETTER
The worst part of all this [“Corndoggle, WW, April 8, 2009] is that Oregon State University gave ethanol and biodiesel the benefit of some overly generous assumptions and even then, still had to conclude that there were lots cheaper, more effective ways to reduce greenhouse emissions and petroleum use. In other words, not a single member of the Legislature or the governor bothered to note the warnings of the state Ag. school.

The very readable study is still available: extension.oregonstate.edu/catalog/pdf/sr/sr1078.pdf

There is no doubt that Sen. Dingfelder and others had the best of intentions. But the proof is in the pudding, not in the promising, and the bottom line is that, outside of Brazilian cane-sugar ethanol and biodiesel from recycled fry grease, there is no case for biofuels that stands up to serious scrutiny. The biofuels lobby has become the psuedo-green version of the NRA, politically powerful but morally bankrupt. As Oregon’s budget woes force more people to lose health care and educational access, the biofuels lobby is not willing to give up even a penny of the subsidies they extract.

“George Anonymuncule Seldes”
via wweek.com

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNED?
How many good ideas gone bad litter the state? I start with Umatilla nerve gas storage and add the ethanol plant to the list.

What happens as the list grows? More money thrown in the wind? Or do like Tom Moyer did and cap the losses by sending the crews home and shutting his next big building down. Will the proposed baseball stadium on the Memorial Coliseum site make the list? The Mt. Hood freeway did. Will the (new) interstate bridge make the bad idea list? It will if it doesn’t last as long as the one there now. Tearing down the Portland Hotel makes the list. So does building the KOIN tower blocking the view of Mount Hood from the Sunset tunnel.

What have we learned so far? Using the Vanport Flood as the benchmark of a good idea gone bad, the learning curve extends further than the human eye can see. How many dams are coming down? Good idea gone bad, or bad planning getting its just due?

“Oh Dominoe”
via wweek.com

CORRECTION: Last week’s story “Line of Fire” incorrectly reported the police units at the Oct. 26, 2002, arrest of Russell Stoneking and the arrangement for retired Sgt. Suzanne Whisler to review a Portland Police internal investigation. There was no SWAT team at the arrest of Russell Stoneking. And Whisler conducted her review on an unpaid basis. WW regrets the errors.