Chenango County, New York state, may have some answers in energy debate

CHENANGO COUNTY – Recent calls from Washington to decrease the country’s dependence on foreign oil by boosting the renewable energy supply and infrastructure have not fallen on deaf ears locally.

U.S. Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), along with U.S. Representative Michael Arcuri (D-Utica), have weighed in on the energy debate in past few weeks, sponsoring or co-sponsoring proposals that aim to increase renewable energy production.

Plymouth farmer Giff Foster, who produces and uses 65 to 75 gallons of biodiesel per week, said he understands alternative energy solutions first-hand. Foster, along with the Chenango County Farm Bureau, is rallying local agricultural producers and residents to help start a renewable energy cooperative in the area, and he’s also been involved with Rob Reiber of Port Crane to start a bio-fuels processing plant in Bainbridge. Foster believes – given politicians are sincere in their efforts – that convincing not only farmers, but consumers, to buy into the idea of producing and using these resources – like vegetable oil-based bio-fuels and cellulosic (non-food-based) ethanol – will be a major key to winning energy independence.

“I would think that most Americans would rather pay a local American energy farmer for fuel than some foreign fossil fuel conglomerate, such as OPEC,” said Foster. “My mother always said ‘investment begins at home,’ and I truly believe this is an exceptional opportunity for consumers and investors to ‘keep it local.”

President George W. Bush is pushing for America’s gasoline consumption to be reduced by 20 percent in ten years. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy recently allotted $385 million for the development and construction of six cellulosic ethanol plants in California, Colorado, Florida, Missouri, South Dakota, and Virginia. The facilities are expected to produce 130 million gallons of fuel per year.

“New York state missed out on that one,” said Edwin White, a professor at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. “But the federal government is recognizing that we have to disperse this ethanol production across the country, and that we have to make it from sources other than corn.”