Bush Paraguay Ranch for Ethanol Production?

This is rampant speculation on my part, but I've put a few facts together and they seem to add up.  

Bush has signed an ethanol agreement with Brazil. Bush has encouraged Congress to mandate a fivefold increase in ethanol usage.  The Bush ranch in Paraguay, so far as I have been able to learn, is suitable for sugarcane farming.  

Here are the pieces of the puzzle:

Bush hails biofuels pact in Brazil

By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 1 minute ago

SAO PAULO, Brazil - At a mega fuel depot for tanker trucks,
President Bush heralded a new ethanol agreement with Brazil Friday as way to boost alternative fuels production across the Americas. Demonstrators upset with Bush's visit here worry that the president and his biofuels buddy, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, really have visions of an
OPEC-like cartel on ethanol.

But Bush and Silva said increasing alternative fuel use will lead to more jobs, a cleaner environment and greater independence from the whims of the oil market. In Brazil, nearly eight in 10 new cars already run on fuel made from sugar cane.

In January, Bush called on Congress to require the annual use of 35 billion gallons of ethanol and other alternative fuels such as biodiesel by 2017, a fivefold increase over current requirements.

Link

Last week the Paraguayan news group Neike suggested that Ms Bush was in Paraguay to "visit the land acquired by her father - relatively close to the Brazilian Pantanal [wetlands] and the Bolivian gas reserves".

The rumours, as yet unconfirmed but which began with the state-run Cuban news agency Prensa Latina, have triggered an outpouring of conspiracy theories, with speculation rife about what President Bush's supposed interest in the "chaco", a semi-arid lowland in the Paraguay's north, might be.

Link

The Humid Chaco -

Where -
Southeastern South America, in Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil

Biome -
Tropical and Subtropical Grasslands, Savannas, and Shrublands

Link

Sugarcane

Sugarcane or Sugar cane (Saccharum) is a genus of 6 to 37 species (depending on taxonomic interpretation) of tall grasses (family Poaceae, tribe Andropogoneae), native to warm temperate to tropical regions of the Old World.

Link

I don't know exactly what part of the Chaco the Bush ranch is located in.  The Guardian article says "semi-arid," so I could be completely off base, but it's likely they didn't know where the ranch would be when their article was written.  The World Wildlife site lists tropical and sub-tropical regions in the Chaco.  It would be helpful to have commentary from someone familiar with the region.  

•  No his ranch is his Peak Oil lifeboat

  by ResponsibleAccountable on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:07:58 PM PDT

  •  Meant to write more sorry...

    it is his peak oil lifeboat... Bush understands Peak Oil... most of his inner circle do... they understand that there is a serious risk (whether or not the doomers are completely right) of everything going very very bad after the peak, very fast

    they understand that the risk is of a total and utter collapse and, of course, the big die off

    100,000 acres is large enough to build a large sustainable community... more it sits on top of a natural aquifer, so water is sorted... further, Paraguay is self-succicient for energy and doesn't need oil, so has one of the best survival factors because of that

    and just for giggles, let's get really speculative... for the elite that knows what may be coming, Bush suddenly has a very big bargaining chip to get whatever he wants... "wanna place in my lifeboat?"

    that could drive an awful lot of personal loyalty to the Bush clan

    check out my diary on a similar topic
    for more about peak oil check out:

    • The Oil Drum which has some excellent further links
    • Energy Bulletin
    • Peak Oil
    • and the sober background of the concept on Wikipedia's Peak Oil entry
    • and when that gets you down try Peak Oil Blues

    by ResponsibleAccountable on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:17:48 PM PDT

•  Ranch for Ethanol Consumption

  Jenna and not Jenna are the quality control team.

  by FishOutofWater on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:10:57 PM PDT

  •  They took their other sister

    Juniper... G&T anyone?

    by ResponsibleAccountable on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:18:21 PM PDT

  •  GW 's in charge of lot control

    on the coke shipments.

    by java4every1 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:22:24 PM PDT

•  Sugarcane ecology from Purdue

  Source, citing James A. Duke. 1983. Handbook of Energy Crops. unpublished.

  Ecology
  Ranging from Warm Temperate Dry to Moist through Tropical Very Dry to Wet Forest Life Zones, sugarcane is reported to tolerate annual precipitation of 4.7 to 42.9 dm (mean of 58 cases = 16.7), annual temperature of 16.0 to 29.9°C (mean of 58 cases = 23.7), and pH of 4.3 to 8.4 (mean of 49 cases = 6.3) (Duke, 1978, 1979). Occurs gregariously, growing in sunny areas, on soil unsuitable to trees; needs aeration at the roots and grows in sand but not loam, along sandy banks of rivers that change their course (Burkill, 1966). Requires a hot humid climate, alternating with dry periods, and thrives best at low elevations on flat or slightly sloping land, with stiff loamy or alluvial soil; however, it flourishes in any ordinary good soil, provided the necessary moisture is available (MacMillan, 1925). Sugarcane in commercial production has endured a maximum of 53°C (127°F) and a minimum of 13°C (9°F). The high is endured by standing cane and the low by overwintering stubble. Standing stalks of sugarcane freeze at 4 to 5.5°C (25 to 22°F) depending on cv and length of exposure. Sugarcane will survive and tiller at temperatures below 21°C but stem elongation, which occurs at night, is inhibited by lower temperatures. Saccharum tolerates occasional flooding. While the total water requirement of sugarcane is high, utilization efficiency is also high, with about 250 parts of water used for each part of dry matter produced. Cane is grown on volcanic soils of Hawaii, alluvial soils of Louisiana, muck soils of Florida, and on the bewildering variety of tropical soils in Puerto Rico. There are seven types of sugarcanegrowing soils: (1) red soils, rich in iron and porous, but plastic when wet; (2) black soils with a clay subsoil, poorly drained; (3) black soils, with a calcareous subsoil, and highly productive; (4) brown clay loams with a stiff top soil, but responding well to fertilization; (5) alluvial soils of enduring fertility and easy cultivation; (6) sands and sandy loams of low fertility, well drained and of easy cultivation; and (7) soils of organic origin (Irvine, 1981).

  The rumored Bush land purchase is in Alto Paraguay, a part of the country dominated by livestock, virgin forests (getting logged) and Brazilian tourism.  Sugarcane can probably survive the climate (hot, 20-40 in rain/year), but other Paraguayan regions are better to grow sugar.  In practice fruits and vegetables are shipped in from other parts of the country.  

  Bush would probably need to bring his own doctor -- the region has a grand total of four.  

  Source (in Spanish)

  by Yamaneko2 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:30:41 PM PDT

  •  The strikethroughs are unintentional.

    by Yamaneko2 on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:31:38 PM PDT

  •  Bill Frist

    would seem to have time on his hands. I'd prefer he take Dr. Kevorkian.

    by f furney on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:37:01 PM PDT

  •  Thanks!

    I think ResponsibleAccountable could be on to something with the ranch being above a major aquifer.  

    Could there be other considerations for the location, like nearness to transporation routes or refineries?  

    by Jack the R on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:44:47 PM PDT

  •  The water is all underground, in the...

    second largest aquafier on the planet. All he'll habe to do is pump the water up to irrigate his cane.

    by Hornito on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 03:20:34 PM PDT

•  "Bush" tag corrected

  Tag guidelines instruct that when names are used both the first and last names should be included and in cases like the George Bushes - the middle initials are essential.

  Please do not enter "bush" or "George Bush" (there is more than one), or "President Bush" as a tag. The correct tag for the current president is "George W. Bush."

  by SarahLee on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:41:23 PM PDT

  •  Diligence

    I can't believe how diligent you folks are!

    by bink on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:50:21 PM PDT

  •  That makes sense.

    by Jack the R on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 08:11:33 PM PDT

•  How much did this cost the taxpaper

  I was just thinking who brought that 100 acres.  We did I will wager.  Our taxpapers money..I dont think he makes enough salary to buy it. We pay for his and his families gas and all the people surrounding them, I bet we paid for the ranch for his hideaway..  How much did this cost us..Who does he think he is..... Will this never stop..

  by bayside on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:45:09 PM PDT

  •  you do know they bought 98,000 acres?

    yes?

    by Pandoras Box on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 12:56:13 PM PDT

    •  Cindy,George is in paraguay, He wants you there..

      No I didnt know it was that much..  Did we pay for this..  This needs to be looked into..

      by bayside on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:15:27 PM PDT

  •  even leaving out whatever

    rakeoffs he's been able to get from the companies he's awarded no-bid contracts to (presumably in Swiss / Cayman Island bank accounts whose existence he doesn't admit to) the Bush family has a lot of money, largely as a result of their involvement with the Saud family that owns Saudi Arabia and their involvement with the Carlyle Group.

    My guess is that the ranch is a family (as in Bush Crime Family) project.

    My other guess is that the most immediate reason for the ranch is to get the Bushes out of range of American justice after W leaves / is forced from office. Though I'm sure the "lifeboat" aspect has occured to somebody, probably George H.W. Bush.

    by alizard on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:17:11 PM PDT

    •  Gets Secret Service protection for life.

      And I can't think of anywhere he can go where he won't need it.  Running is impossible.

      by Jack the R on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 08:15:38 PM PDT

•  recycling

  didn't know you could make ethanol out of old Nazis (no offense to the 99.99% of Paraguayans who are not escaped war criminals)

  by greenszabo on Fri Mar 09, 2007 at 01:42:15 PM PDT