The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 558
If you’ve ever read any of my editorials or news articles you might recognize
some recurring themes. For example, I put great stock in personal hands-on
experience. Studying someone else’s work is fine, but there comes a time when
you have to get out there and get your hands dirty. You’ve got to kick some
tires, wipe sweat from your brow, and spill some of your own blood.
I also have this thing about understanding business, but not the kind of understanding that comes from just reading textbooks and listening to lectures at college. I’m talking about hands-on production and management experience in real
world situations where your personal efforts and decisions are the difference
between whether you and your co-workers will have the carfare to get home
that night and back to work the next morning. So when I read certain accounts
and hear people talk about the business aspect of some issue, if I don’t detect
any evidence that they have enjoyed the experience of “working in the field,” I
become very suspect and critical of their position.
In the brief research I did on Robert Bryce before writing my
email to him, I didn’t come across any information that indicated he had any experience as a dirty-handed “field tester” or
in day-to-day product production and distribution. So that’s
why I asked Mr. Bryce the questions I did, in the manner I did.
I’ll come back to this whole matter of real world experience at
various times later in this review.
Happily, I received a rather quick response to my email; sometimes I never get any responses to my emails. Robert Bryce
wrote:
Robert Bryce
“I am fundamentally opposed to use of food to make motor fuel. Further,
my opposition to biofuels is based on simple math and basic physics. The
power density of biofuels is too low to have it make any sense from a
public policy standpoint. I have never been given any "information points"
by PR firms on ethanol. My work on ethanol is my own.”
“… Further, I suggest you read my third book, GUSHER OF LIES, of
which about 20 percent is devoted to the ethanol scam.”
So based upon his suggestion that I read his third book, GUSHER OF LIES, I
plunked my ten bucks down on Amazon for the Kindle version, and this project
got under way.
