In view of our dependence on foreign oil and the link of terrorism to the largest petroleum producing region in the world, reducing energy dependence in every way possible must be a top policy priority for the near future. 

Alternate fuels should have been a much higher priority than they have been over the past forty years. Energy has been a low priority public policy due to the influence of the petroleum industry in controlling Congress with political contributions to the two-party monopoly.

Need I mention the Enron scandal? The very avoidable BP Oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico? Environmental disaster! Much more later.

We have a leading player in the bio diesel energy solution located in our Tri-State Region. Griffin Industries has a pilot plant that produces two million gallons of bio diesel per year located across the Ohio river in Northern Kentucky. 30% of all petroleum used is burned in various diesel applications, the largest probably being trucking.

Since bio diesel can be produced and used with zero petroleum additives, we could reduce our dependence on foreign oil by at least 30%. Using 100% bio diesel as the fuel increases diesel engine life, greatly reduces harmful emissions, and could create a huge market for the oil of industrial hemp and other plants. That new market could greatly benefit farmers with a huge cash crop to take the place of tobacco. In addition, new, bigger, more efficient bio diesel plants would fortify our domestic economy with many high paying manufacturing jobs.

The benefits do sound far too good to be true. I am looking into the downside for bio-diesel products. I have found none to date. My question: Why aren't we implementing a full-scale program to develop bio diesel to reduce our dependence on foreign oil? One obvious answer is that international corporate oil interests are blocking a loss of market share for their petroleum products.