By TIM ALEXANDER
Illinois Correspondent

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — At the 2008 Illinois Commodity Conference held Nov. 25 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington, controversial author/aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin told a crowd of around 150 farm commodity organization members that he’s proposing Congress pass laws ensuring all cars and trucks sold in the U.S are flex-fuel capable. Zubrin’s new book, “Energy Victory,” ties Americans’ reliance on foreign oil to terrorist activities funded by Saudi Arabia and OPEC nations.

The Saudis will net $400 billion from American pocketbooks this year, said Zubrin, and “will spend a significant chunk of that funding on the cause that is nearest and dearest to their hearts, which is to say Jihad, or their faith, which is Wahhabism.” According to the controversial author, the funds help to operate terrorism academies for young boys, set up armed Jihadi organizations, and “carry out (terrorist) activities on a global scale” resulting in a “death toll in the millions of people.”

The only way to combat Saudi-sponsored terrorism and the U.S.’ dependence on foreign oil is for lawmakers to get serious with domestic and foreign auto companies by requiring them to manufacture only flex-fuel vehicles for sale in America, he said. The nation’s (and world’s) farmers would prove to be the front-line heroes in this war because they would be producing the crops and biomass for the fuel that will help facilitate near-worldwide independence from Saudi/OPEC oil, according to Zubrin, who is also the president of Pioneer Astronautics and a former member of NASA’s Mars Exploration Long Term Strategy Working Group.
“We have an incredibly powerful agricultural sector in this country – the strongest of any country in the world,” Zubrin said. “Other countries also have very good ag sectors. Saudi Arabia is not in that position.”

To win the fuel war and take on the terrorists, Zubrin said, we have to change the trump suit. “My one-point program to accomplish that is for Congress to pass a law requiring that every car sold in the U.S. be fully flex-fuel; this should be a standard feature,” he told the crowd of delegates from the Ill. Corn Growers Assoc., Ill. Soybean Assoc., Ill. Beef Assoc., and other state commodity groups.

If the U.S. were to require flex-fuel capability in all vehicles sold to American consumers, foreign car makers would be forced to fall in line. This would result in a near-worldwide switch to flex-fuel vehicles that would force foreign oil to compete at the pump with ethanol, biodiesel and other fuels – resulting in a constant supply of oil at less than $50 per barrel.

“If we had a flex-fuel requirement, within three years we’d have 50 million cars in the U.S. and millions more worldwide capable of running on alternate fuels,” Zubrin said. “Under those conditions E85 would be available at every 7-11.”

Among reasons renewable fuels haven’t yet caught on in the U.S. is because the vehicles only account for three percent of the nation’s total yearly auto sales. Therefore, gas station owners aren’t financially motivated to utilize any of their pumps for dispensing renewable fuels.

If the reasons for a total U.S. conversion to flex-fuel vehicles were not already compelling enough, Zubrin warned of what he’s dubbed “The Takeover Threat” posed by OPEC nations through their rapidly accumulating wealth.

“Within six years OPEC could be worth enough money to buy the majority control of all U.S. Fortune 500 companies,” he cautioned. “This is a disaster waiting to happen, and we have to get out from under this threat.”

Zubrin scoffs at the notion the world does not have enough resources to power all of its vehicles with alternate fuels without greatly compromising the world’s food supply. “The world population has tripled since 1930 and everyone has more food than ever before,” he said.

Zubrin also promotes the increased use of methanol and butanol for vehicle fuel, and is supportive of further exploration of domestic oil sources including Alaska and the coastal areas.
For more on Zubrin’s ideas, ask your librarian or bookseller to order “Energy Victory.”