A Southern energy solution

It seems like everyone is talking about a gasoline tax. (Thomas Friedman is advocating it again in his New York Times opinion column today.) Even President George W. Bush has said Americans are addicted to oil and must find a way to achieve energy independence.

However, a huge, immediate increase in the gasoline tax would be extremely regressive and devastating to most people in the South, where there are few urban areas with viable public transportation.

A better idea is promoting alternative energy sources that derive from agricultural products, which would be a win-win for the South. Fuels like biodiesel and ethanol would create new markets for farmers as they labor in a sector of the regional economy that has been in decline. At the same time, these fuels don't require new, specialized vehicles or major engine modifications.

Already biodiesel production facilities are opening in Arkansas and other Southern states. It seems like a logical way to create a domestic source of energy that is cleaner, cheaper and easier to utilize while giving our farmers a needed source of income.