Gen. Wes Clark lobbies for ethanol

Wesley Clark, retired general and one-time presidential candidate, once headed Wavecrest, a company that produced an awesome electric bike. Now he heads the ethanol industry trade group Growth Energy. The ethanol industry is struggling. Plants are shuttering and plans for more put on hold. The debate on the relative value of corn ethanol and its environmental impact continues unabated. But the lobbying must go on, as reported in the NY Times blog Green Inc.

Today retired General Wesley Clark, a onetime presidential candidate who now is the co-chairman of an ethanol industry group, asked the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the limit on how much ethanol can be blended into gasoline. The limit is 10 percent; General Clark and his group, Growth Energy, want the amount raised as high as 15 percent.

On Thursday CARB logically indicated that "lifecycle emissions" need be calculated in the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, potentially disadvantaging ethanol. I expect Gen. Clark will be seen in Sacramento shortly.