Turns out, James Inhofe, on record as 3rd dumbest member of Congress, has a checkered past in supporting development of alternative fuels. He's for them, and he's against them. This is based on a report in the biofuels daily digestfrom a week ago, and has made it to the mainstream media today, reported by Reuters.
James Mountain Inhofe, long recognized as a vocal and crazy critic of global warming as a hoax, has become a supporter of certain kinds of alternative fuels. Inhofe has criticized vociferously the Navy "Green Fleet" demonstration project, that was part of an DoD program to increase the military's use of alternative fuels. He voiced outrage at the $26-a-gallon price tag for the Navy project. As recently as July 26, Jim demanded a detailed cost accounting from the US Navy for the program.
He complained:
It has been reported that the Navy spent $12 million for 450,000 gallons of biofuel, which equals approximately $27 a gallon. When added to an additional 450,000 gallons of traditional fuel, the cost per gallon is reduced to $15 a gallon, still over three times the cost of traditional fuel.
Cause the Koch brothers said so, that's why. This guy is one of the largest recipients of largesse from the Koch brothers, as
detailed by opensecrets.org. One wonders if his thinking (if that's the right word for it) is influenced by the Koch brothers' agenda.
Anyway, it turns out that Jimbo is a big fan of Syntroleum, based in Tulsa, OK. Syntroleum is developing technologies for production of biodiesel and also they're developing a GTL (gas-to-liquids) process for production of gasoline from natural gas. All on the up-and-up. Support your constituents, and support technology development. With Inhofe's generous support, Syntroleum has benefited greatly from support from the US DOD, with earmarks totaling nearly $6 million in 2002, 2004, and 2006.
"Tulsans can be very proud that Syntroleum's advanced technology is now poised to make a significantly increased contribution to military readiness and national security," said Inhofe, after Congress approved a $3.5 million Inhofe earmark in 2002.
But it looks like Inhofe is a big fat hypocrite, with a conflict of interest.
The conflict of interest. First, as documented by biofuels digest, Inhofe has investments in Blackrock, the largest single shareholder of Syntroleum stock. This is why disclosure is so important; this stuff is difficult to dig up!
Hypocrite This is the best part of the story, I think. Turns out that Syntroleum sold 104,000 gallons of jet fuel to the US Air Force for $22 / gallon, $2.3 million total. $22 bucks a gallon is definitely a premium for any fuel, but these are the reasonable costs for investing in development of future technologies. Unless you happen to be against that kind of thing.
So let's hear it for the mouthpiece of the Koch brothers on capitol hill, Jim Infhofe, dumbest member of Congress*. Pushing the liberal agenda for alternative fuels.
* I can't accept that he's only the 3rd dumbest.