NEWS FROM BRAZIL
supplied by Brazil Justice Net
Number 565, March 29, 2007
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This edition of News from Brazil focus on the ethanol debate going on here in Brazil. The first article describes Bush's recent statements on ethanol while in Brazil; the second is a critique of ethanol as an altenative fuel source.
Bush Supports Ethanol to Reduce U.S. Dependency on Gasoline
by Regiane Soares
from Folha Online, March 9, 2007
On March 9, Presidents Bush and Lula signed a memorandum of technological cooperation between their two countries for the production of biofuels such as alcohol and biodeisel. Bush defended the consumption of ethanol as a substitute for gasoline.
According to Bush, investments in biofuels are considered a question of national security for the U.S. that America intends to reduce its dependency on petroleum. “People ask themselves why the President of the U.S. is interested in diversifying sources of energy. One of the reasons is that if we depend on imported petroleum , we have a national security question.
“Our dependency on fuels of others means that we are dependent on their decisions. We want to diversify, to leave petroleum behind,” he affirmed, after meeting with Lula in a terminal of Transpetro, a subsidiary of Petrobrás, in Guarulos, São Paulo.
He said further that the U.S. will invest $1.6 billion in ten years in additional research, in order to have alternative sources of energy. “We already invested $12 billion in new technologies that will permit us to reach economic independence and a better environment. I hope that we can do this together. I appreciate the fact that Brazil and the U.S. developed this research together,” he said, referring to Lula.
In his turn, the Brazilian president affirmed that the agreement made between the two countries will help to democratize access to biofuels and to have a less polluted world in the future. “The close association and cooperation between the two leaders in the production of ethanol will facilitate democratic access to energy. The growing use of biofuels will be an outstanding contribution to income generation, social inclusion and the reduction of poverty in many poor countries of the world.”
Bush said that there also exists a U.S. economic interest supporting the substitution of gasoline by another source of energy. “This dependency on petroleum also creates an economic problem, not only for the U.S., but for all who import petroleum. If the demand for petroleum rises in China and India, the price of gasoline will also rise in our countries. Diversification is in the economic interest of our countries.”
According to Bush, the U.S. plan is to reduce gasoline consumption by 20% within ten years. The North American affirmed that the U.S. should increase the consumption of biofuels like alcohol from 5 billion to 35 gallons per year.
“I want to reach 35 billion gallons of biofuels by 2017. That is seven times more than we use now: 5 billion gallons of ethanol. This is very important for our country and for our commitment to become less dependent on petroleum and to work for the environment,” he said.
The American praised Brazil’s advances in the development of technology and production of biofuels. “I appreciate the fact that energy comes from sugar cane, which gives Brazil a great advantage. I appreciate the innovation that is happening in Brazil. You are the leaders in alcohol-based fuels. I believe that you will continue to discover new technologies that will be useful to others.”
In his speech, Lula said that Brazil and the U.S. are signing an “ambitious” agreement for the future. Lula affirmed that the partnership with the Bush government began in 2005, when the North American president was in Brazil. “We are beginning a partnership for the future, an ample and renewed undertaking that transcends the bilateral plan and creates opportunities on a world scale. The partnership that we are inaugurating is ambitious and directed toward all aspects linked to the definitive incorporation of ethanol in the energy source of our countries,” said Lula.
“It is important to remember that when President Bush went to Brasília (in 2005) I was obsessed with biofuels and he almost was unable to eat lunch because of all my talk of biofuels.”
According to Lula, the partnership will democratize access to biofuels and promote job creation and income, since it will allow small farmers to produce sugar cane.
For Lula, the use of alcohol will diminish degradation of the environment. “This is a clean technology and it is a means to avoid global warming,” he said.
The Myth of Biofuels
By Edivan Pinto, Marluce Melo and Maria Luísa Mendonça
Recent research on the impact of fossil fuels has contributed to making the subject of biofuels the order of the day. The acceleration of global warming is a fact that places the life of the planet at risk. However, it is necessary to demystify the principal solution that is now being proposed and disseminated by propaganda about the supposed benefits of biofuels. Opposed to this idea that biofuels are the answer, Professor Mãe-Wan-Ho, of the University of Hong Kong, explains that “Biofuels have been considered erroneously to be ‘carbon neutral.’ The costs of carbon dioxide emissions and energy to make fertilizers and pesticides have been ignored.”
A report of the Belgian Cabinet of Scientific Studies shows similar results. “Biofuels cause more health and environmental problems because they create more particulate pollution and liberate more pollutants that increase the destruction of the ozone layer.”
Soy has been presented by the Brazilian government as the principal source of biodiesel. Soy culture is like the jewel in the crown of Brazilian agribusiness, affirm Embrapa’s [Brazilian Company of Farming & Cattle Raising Research] researchers. In this context, the role of Brazil would be to furnish cheap energy for rich countries, which represents a new phase of colonization. The current policies for the sector are sustained by the same elements that marked Brazilian colonization: appropriation of the land, of the natural goods and labor, which represents greater concentration of land, water, income and power.
It is estimated that more than 90 million hectares could be utilized to produce biofuels. What is more, the “efficiency” of our production is due to the availability of cheap labor, including slaves. These characteristics are made known by governmental departments and by some intellectuals, who created the idea that the production of biofuels would bring great benefits. “Our country has the largest extension of land in the world that is still available to be incorporated into the productive process,” say Embrapa researchers. They estimate that the production of biomass “will be the most important component of Brazilian agribusiness.” With respect to the expansion of ethanol production, they conclude that there is the “possibility of sugar cane expansion in almost all the national territory.” Brazil now produces 17 billion liters of alcohol annually. According to BNDES [National Bank of Economic & Social Development], eight billion liters more are necessary to serve just the internal market. Therefore, the bank predicts that Brazil must expand its production to other countries. With the intention of controlling 50% of the world ethanol market, BNDES estimates that the country must produce 110 billion liters per year. In just the arid regions, there will be more than 20 million hectares available for planting,” the report of Embrapa reveals. In the Northeast, according to the researchers, “for castor bean plants alone there is an area of 3 million hectares appropriate for cultivation.” They say too, that “The Brazilian Amazon region has the greatest potential for planting dendê [African oil palm] in the world, with an area estimated at 70 million hectares.
But this product is known as “the diesel of deforestation.” Mass production of palm oil (as it is know in other countries) has already caused devastation of large forest areas in Colombia, Ecuador and Indonesia. In Malaysia, the world’s largest producer of palm oil, 87% of the forests have been devastated.
Brazil can also fulfill the mission of legitimating the U.S. foreign policy. In his visit to Brazil in February, 2007, Nicholas Burns, Sub secretary of State, said that “Research and development of biofuels can be the symbolic axis of a new and stronger partnership between Brazil and the U.S.” The two countries control 70% of the world’s production of ethanol. Recently, in response to the impact of this subject on society, the Bush government announced that it intends to reduce consumption by 20%. According to Burns, “Energy tends to distort the power of some countries that we think have a negative impact on the world, like Venezuela and Iran” (Folha de São Paulo, February 7, 2007).
Expansion of bioenergy production is of great interest to companies involved in GMOs. They hope to obtain greater public acceptance if they push the transgenic products as sources of “clean” energy. “All the companies that produce transgenic plants—Syngenta, Monsanto, Dupont, Dow, Bayer, BASF—have investments in seeds created for the production of biofuels, like ethanol and biodiesel. They have, in addition, collaborative agreements with multinationals such as Cargill, Archer, Daniel Midland, and Bunge
that dominate world commerce in cereals,” explains Silvia Ribeiro, investigator of the Group ETC of Mexico.
According to Eric Hold-Gimenez, coordinator of the organization Food First, “Three huge companies (ADM, Cargill and Monsanto) are forging their empire: genetic engineering, processing and transportation—an alliance that will anchor the production and sale of ethanol.” And he adds that other agribusinesses like Bunge, Syngenta, Bayer and Dupont, became allies with the oil multinationals like Shell, Total and British Petroleum, as well as car manufacturers like Volkswagen, Peugeot, Citroen, Renault and Saab, to form an unprecedented partnership expecting huge profits from biofuels.
Experiences like the planting of castor beans by small farmers in the Northeast have demonstrated the risk of dependence on large agribusiness that controls prices, processing and distribution of the product. The farmers are utilized to give legitimacy to agribusiness, by means of distributing certification of “social fuel.”
Expansion of biofuel production puts food independence at risk and could profoundly exacerbate the problem of world hunger. In Mexico, for example, the increase in corn exports to supply the ethanol market in the U.S. caused a 400% increase in the price of corn, which is the principle source of food for the population.
Discussion of new sources of energy implies, in the first place, a reflection on whom the new source will serve. The construction of a new energy source must take into account who will benefit or what purpose will it serve.
Source: Brasil de Fato, March 12, 2007
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