Is the lowly switchgrass the answer to our energy woes?

As a source for restoring America’s energy independence, the lowly switchgrass plant President Bush is touting sounds almost too good to be true.

It thrives in marginal soils and doesn’t require much care or watering and little fertilizer. It is disease and insect resistant and using more of it promises to reduce budget-busting agriculture subsidies, rehabilitate poor soils, feed endangered wildlife and reduce noxious gas emissions. Plus it’s 100 percent American.

With those credentials, there’s little wonder that Bush has been talking a lot about switchgrass recently. In his State of the Union address last month, Bush told Congress he wants to accelerate funding for using switchgrass and wood chips to make ethanol by 2012, and in several appearances since he’s also mentioned the idea.

Bush’s 2007 budget asks Congress to spend $150 million on bio-based transportation fuels – up $59 million from current spending on the program.

Scripps Howard News Service