Larry Matlack, President of the American Agriculture Movement (AAM), highlighted the positive impacts of the short and long term benefits of renewable energy produced in the heartland, and his organization’s dedication to those objectives at their thirty-first annual convention earlier this month in Oklahoma City. “Agriculture has received these positive impacts because of the proactive lead of many organizations such as AAM,” explained Matlack. “For more than thirty years we have dedicated ourselves in the area of American-raised energy.”
“Unlike many other farm organizations, who generally come late to the table after the visionary work has gone forward and the outcome is clear, AAM has always worked for what was best for America and America’s farmers,” said Matlack. “Even today, some farm organizations collaborate with those seeking to delay the development of additional and newer renewable fuels and power from American agriculture and forests. This is one major reason that it has taken over thirty years to bring biofuels into the picture as a major supplier of our transportation fuel.”
“AAM has always fought for programs that best serve the American farmer, rancher, and forester no matter which political party supported those advances,” explained Matlack. “Our keynote speaker at this year’s AAM convention is a testament to that effort; William Holmberg, Chairman of the Biomass Coordinating Council of the American Council on Renewable Energy, first worked with AAM in the late seventies when he was with the U.S. Department of Energy and established the federal government’s first alcohol fuels office.”
Holmberg retired from military service as a highly decorated Marine Lieutenant Colonel and served both Republican and Democratic administrations for an additional thirteen years, helping to pioneer the ethanol and biodiesel industries. “Holmberg continues to serve his country, working on behalf of sustainable renewable energy from America’s farms and forests,” stated Matlack. The AAM lauded the American Council on Renewable Energy (ACORE) and the Biomass Coordinating Council (BCC) for their efforts in launching the American Agriculture and Forestry Movement for Sustainable New Wealth Industries (SNWIs) and declaring 2010 the Year of Biomass to increase the awareness of the American people about what farms and forests can contribute to energy self-reliance.
Matlack quoted former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director R. James Woolsey who said, “This is the only war the U.S. has ever fought where we pay for both sides. We fund and support our brave military personnel fighting terrorists, and we then fund countries supporting those terrorists by purchasing their oil. So, when we look at the problem and seek a solution, we need only to look into our own eyes in the rear view mirror when we pump fuel into our gas tanks. As fast as possible, we should be fueling our cars with alternative fuels and electricity produced right here in the United States.”
“If not for the economic prosperity for rural areas, and America in general, that results from producing our own renewable fuels, then we all certainly have a moral obligation to our troops and our country. We must all rise to this task and AAM asks farmers across the nation to avoid the shortsighted advice of those farm organizations, or others, who would weaken America by continuing our dependence on foreign energy far into the future,” charged Matlack. “AAM also asks each American to become informed, involved and dedicated to SNWIs so energy self-sufficiency becomes a reality in our lifetime.”
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