Wednesday was a difficult day for The American Independent News Network, which is the larger entity that operates The Iowa Independent. Our chief executive and founder announced two of our sister sites would close and their content would be moved to The American Independent.
A recently introduced bill could have far-reaching impact on the U.S. sugar industry, including American Crystal Sugar, a farmer-owned cooperative that locked out 1,300 Midwest workers on Aug. 1.
The chairman for Herman Cain’s Iowa effort says the campaign “relied more on the word of farmers than Washington regulators” in deciding to run an ad containing claims the Environmental Protection Agency says are false.
The Iowa Senate will remain under the control of a slim 26-25 Democratic majority when it reconvenes in January 2012.
U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin
As Republicans and Democrats debate whether the Texas oil man in the White House or the San Francisco liberal with the gavel in the U.S. House of Representatives is to blame for high gas prices, one senator is rejecting the premise of the dispute.
“Why do we run cars on gasoline?†U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin said in response to questions from Iowa Independent on a conference call with the media last week.
He added, “Why not have more electric cars?â€
Harkin said he plans to introduce legislation requiring that every car manufactured in the United States is flexible-fuel capable — which would be a big boost for E85 ethanol, biodiesel and vehicles not tethered 100 percent to oil. Brazil has made flex-fuel cars a key part of its energy strategy, Harkin noted.
“We could do the same thing here in two years,†Harkin said. “In two years we could mandate that every car sold in America be flex fuel. That would do more in two years to bring down the price of gasoline than any other single thing we could do.â€
Harkin said more oil drilling is not a long-term answer — and he thinks most Americans understand this. He noted that President Bush centered a State of the Union speech around the nation’s addiction to oil and its need to break it.
“If you’re addicted to oil it would seem to me the last thing you’d want to do is go out and start drilling for more oil,†Harkin said. “That’s just feeding your addiction.â€
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