Just in time for Halloween, D.C. bureaucrats want to smash your jack-o-lantern fun. They claim that those big orange goblins are causing environmental climate problems, but government can come to the rescue.
According to the Department of Energy, Americans produce 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins each year, much of which they claim ends up in dumps adding to the 254 million tons of waste we produce. Once there, those pumpkins get mischievous. They release methane gas as they decompose, which is a harmful greenhouse gas that plays a part in climate change with "20 times the warming effect of carbon dioxide."
What they don't tell us is just how much other compost adds to climate change.
Anyway, they think all that pumpkin waste could be harnessed to produce energy and government tax dollars working with private industry companies are just the solution.
The Energy Department is giving federal "investments" to companies like Fulcrum Bioenergy in Nevada to to develop and test biorefineries or facilities capable of converting plant and waste material into affordable biofuels, biopower and other products. In short, poop fuel.
According to Energy's release:
Once in full operation, these two biorefineries will have a combined capacity to produce 92 million gallons of advanced biofuel per year for the military. Fulcrum has since received a $30 million investment from United Airlines and has entered into a long-term jet fuel supply agreement with Hong Kong-based airline Cathay Pacific.
The Energy Department is working to expand waste-to-energy opportunities in the United States, and its partnership with these companies is helping to remove barriers to the commercialization of fuel and power production from waste, including yard and food wastes.
Solyndra for pumpkins, anyone?
Leave it to the government to find a way to take the fun out of a favorite holiday by telling you how your innocent actions are hurting society and need government intervention. Add to that those public-private partnerships that should in theory work to the better of society but because of flawed science, bureaucratic red tape, and mismanagement wastes of hard-earned taxpayer dollars. Happy pumpkin cutting!