coal-to-liquid fuel

The new LAT political blog is off to an uneven start. I have appreciated the heads up on coming polls and articles. But this is a silly hit on Obama. First they knock him for showing up to greenhouse gas press conference in an SUV.

Barack Obama showed up for a sparsely-attended news conference in Brentwood Tuesday to outline his plans to reduce greenhouse gases. The scene was a gas station that sells fuel made from vegetable oils. Good so far.

Trouble was he drove up in one of those big hulking SUVs that political campaigns (and the Secret Service) are so fond of driving. "When I'm president," Obama said, "any vehicle purchased by the federal government" will have a flexible fuel system that can run on ethanol. "Government should lead the way," he said.

Uuum, the Secret Service is kinda in charge of Obama's transportation. It is up to them to determine what is safe for him to travel in or not. I doubt that there is an armored Prius laying around in every town for him to rent. Would Malcom rather that Obama switch to a hybrid just around the corner from the event as other politicians have done?

Malcom then links to his collegue's article on Obama and coal-to-liquid fuels, as a sign of a shifting position. Trouble is that Obama has always said that his support for the program would rests on finding a way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the production of coal-to-liquid fuels. The news is that he put a number on it, saying that he would only back the program if they "emit at least 20% less life-cycle carbon than conventional fuels." His support for the program, was often reported without the caveat and he move to cut off the confusion. It was a good move and worthy of clarification.