"Voinovich's View" - Agriculture: Leading the Charge toward Energy Independence
Statement
"Voinovich's View" - Agriculture: Leading the Charge toward Energy Independence
Every August, I join thousands of Ohio families at one of the state's finest traditions - the Ohio State Fair. I love going to the fair with my wife, Janet, and our children and grandchildren, and participating in events by celebrating the best of Ohio.
This year, however, we are in the midst of a serious crisis, and people are hurting - especially in Ohio. And if you are looking for the root of the pain you don't have to look any further than your home energy bill or your local gas station.
Ohio families cannot ignore rising gasoline prices and, this year at the fair, I set out to talk to real Ohioans about the impact high gas prices is having on their lives. My colleagues in the Senate need to know how real people in my home state are coping with these escalating costs.
I recently went on a "High Gas Prices Tour" throughout the state to visit with Ohioans and shared some of my work on this alarming problem we face as a nation. Over the past month, I have stopped in Cleveland, Canton, Delaware, Mansfield, Marion and Marysville to share some statistics about the impact high gas prices are having on Ohio families and the economy.
The tour next stopped off at the Ohio State Fair, where I discussed how Ohio's two leading industries - manufacturing and agriculture - are working together to create Ohio's emerging bioproducts industry. This collaboration, along with other exciting public-private partnerships, will be a win-win for Ohio and help the state become an undisputed leader in the innovation of materials from renewable resources.
This is not only important to our economic competitiveness, but also to our national security, which is currently being threatened by our dependence on foreign oil. While I know Americans are hurting from our addiction to oil, I'm not sure they fully realize the extent our national security, and indeed our very way of life, is threatened by our reliance on foreign oil. Every year we send billions of dollars overseas for oil to pad the coffers of many nations that do not have our best interests at heart.
Ohio can play a critical role in reducing this dependence by developing and manufacturing materials from renewable resources like corn and soybeans. Agriculture is Ohio's number one industry - contributing $90 billion a year to Ohio's economy. This is something I've always understood, and my long-time support of the agriculture industry earned me the title of "Ag Governor."
Ohio has established the lasting legacy of being both a manufacturing and an agricultural state, although these two industries traditionally have not crossed paths. Well, times have changed since I was governor. Today our agricultural products are being manufactured in new and innovative ways. By distinguishing its crops globally, our state could become a leader in the development of chemicals, polymers and materials from renewable resources.
Biofuels derived from soybeans and corn are already cutting consumption of crude oil by one million barrels a day. And according to recent studies, having ethanol in our fuel supply right now keeps the price of regular unleaded gasoline down anywhere from .11 to .50 cents a gallon.
We must do everything we can to ensure a future free from the addiction to foreign oil that has plagued our country for decades and has tied our hands economically and politically. It is critical that we continue to harness American innovation and ingenuity to develop and accelerate to market the next generation of biofuels, like cellulosic.
I firmly believe that our country has the resources already available to declare what I call the Second Declaration of Independence - this time, independence from foreign oil. To do this we must adopt comprehensive energy policies that seek to increase our domestic supply of fossil fuels, conserve what we already have available to us and reduce our demand through alternative forms of energy.
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