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Push leaders toward biofuels

10/12/2009 22:00:00 Pangea

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We as a people need to push not only the city, but Knox County, Knox College, Carl Sandburg College, state Rep. Don Moffitt, Congressman Phil Hare and President-elect Obama to find the funds needed to build a bio-diesel plant and wind farms in our communi

Properly harnessed, these forms of alternative energy can not only help the environment, but can also give our area a much needed recharge in the areas of employment and innovation.

Bio-diesel can be used for our school buses, public transportation, city and county vehicles, and heavy equipment. It is a cheaper, cleaner fuel that also adds to the life of the engines that use it. This fuel we refine can also be sold to customers outside of the community.

Wind energy can supply low-cost renewable electricity to our schools, public facilities, and businesses. The area around Bloomington-Normal has already started to utilize such forms of power and have recorded numerous benefits.

These alternative energy endeavors will need employees. We have a ready and willing work force. Bio-diesel and wind power will not take jobs away from those employed by existing utilities, but will rather work to help supplement them. It will take decades of continued research, development and implementation before a majority of residents have made the conversion to such alternative fuels.

Tax money now used for buses, heating and cooling public facilities, and maintaining our heavy equipment could be routed instead to improve the crumbling infrastructure, leading to an expansion, rather than cutting, of services.

While it may appear to be a difficult time economically to start, action must be taken sooner rather than later. It is essential to plan not only for the present, but also for the distant future. We do not want to be caught asleep at the wheel, as the American automotive giants have, but rather be an alert driver ready for the next unexpected twist and turn.

Just as the seeds for biofuels that are planted in the ground have to push to break the earth to see the sun, we must push to reach the future

Article by: Margaret Hall, Galesburg