Grassley, Thune, and Herseth-Sandlin Join ADM, Shell and Monsanto as Nation’s Biggest “Biofools”

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Contacts: Margaret Swink, 415.659.0541, Nick Berning, 202-222-0748

Grassley, Thune, and Herseth-Sandlin Join ADM, Shell and Monsanto as Nation’s Biggest “Biofools”

Policymakers and Corporate Leaders Nominated in Contest Highlighting Dangers of Industrialized Biofuels

SAN FRANCISCO and WASHINGTON, D.C. – Three policy makers and three corporate leaders were singled out today as the top national “biofools” in a contest sponsored by Friends of the Earth and Rainforest Action Network. The grassroots contest is part of a nationwide effort to highlight the dangers of industrialized biofuels as a false solution to climate change.

Despite growing scientific evidence that they contribute to air pollution, deforestation and climate change, industrialized biofuels are being promoted by government and agribusiness as a ‘clean’ solution to climate change and to our nation’s fossil fuel addiction. Replacing just 10 percent of world demand for diesel for road transport with biodiesel would require 75 percent of the world’s existing soy, oil palm and rapeseed crops. Even current government mandates for these so-called renewable fuels will create enough demand for biofuels to cause food shortages and environmental catastrophe around the world.

The online contest will be held on April 1, 2009, as concerned citizens vote online to determine the nation’s biggest biofool. The winner will be announced on the group’s joint webpage: www.biofoolsday.org.

Nominees include:

• Linda Cook, Executive Director, Shell Oil. Citing economic concerns, Cook recently announced that Shell Oil will no longer invest in wind and solar energy and focus their energy solely on liquid fuels, hugely increasing the oil giants investment in biofuels.
• Hugh Grant, CEO, Monsanto. The global biofuels rush has provided a perfect new market for Monsanto’s genetically modified plants, an inevitable ingredient of biofuel feedstocks. The agribusiness giant dismisses evidence that biofuels are harmful for the environment or have anything to do with food price spikes and shortages.
• Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA). Senator Chuck Grassley supports claims that biofuels are “contributing to a cleaner environment,” ignoring the scientific evidence that biofuel production is contributing to the rapid destruction of rainforests abroad and the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico here at home.
• Rep. Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin (D-SD). Representative Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin has been a strong advocate for reducing global warming pollution, but supports attempts to strip federal forest protections from biofuels policy, claiming that prohibiting the clear-cutting of our federal forests for biofuel production keeps us dependent on foreign oil.
• Sen. John Thune (R-SD). A longtime proponent of biofuels, Senator John Thune recently advocated increasing the amount of biofuels that can be blended into gasoline, removing critical forest protections, and potentially eviscerating the global warming standards in biofuels policy.
• Patricia Woertz, CEO, Archer Daniels Midland. A former Chevron executive before her tenure at ADM, Woertz is leading the agroenergy charge. ADM is a leading importer of palm oil, a popular biofuel feedstock and a leading cause of deforestation in Southeast Asia.

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Amigos de la Tierra (www.foe.org Friends of the Earth (Amigos de la Tierra) es la voz estadounidense de la red ambientalista de base más grande del mundo, con grupos miembros en 70 países. Desde 1969, Friends of the Earth ha estado a la vanguardia de iniciativas de alto perfil para crear un mundo más sano y justo.

Rainforest Action Network campaigns to break North America’s oil and coal addictions, protect endangered forests and Indigenous rights, and stop destructive investments around the world through education, grassroots organizing, and nonviolent direct action. For more information, please visit: www.ran.org.