HEMP SHOULD BE THE WAY FORWARD

Re: "Coal is key to energy affordability," Viewpoints, Dec. 31.

Bill Hammond states that coal is this country's most abundant and
affordable fuel source. I would like to propose that this is a false
assumption.

While coal may be a great source of polluting hydrocarbon fuels, it is not
the most abundant nor is it the most affordable in the long term. He states
that our coal reserves could last an additional 250 years, if current
demands do not change. As our population grows and our reliance on
electronic gizmos increases so will our perceived need for electrical
energy. Thus these coal supplies may only last an additional 150 years,
give or take a few. While we are seeing an increase in the quality of air
that we breathe, we are also seeing an increase in the number of
automobiles and a decrease in the number of plants to filter the air. This
leads to an unbalanced CO2 cycle for the planet. While it may not
negatively affect our current generation, it will certainly affect our
children's grandchildren's generation. Personally, and I would hope that I
am not alone, I would rather ensure that future generations have a clean
earth to call home. By utilizing carbohydrate-based fuels, we can ensure
this for every generation to come.

Unfortunately the greatest carbohydrate fuel source that we know of is
illegal in the United States. I speak of the industrial hemp plant, a
non-psychoactive variety of cannabis sativa. Because of our government's
war on marijuana, a psychoactive variety of the same plant, we are denied
the greatest natural resource that this planet has to offer. The hemp plant
can be used to manufacture everything we currently produce from petroleum,
timber, and cotton without negatively impacting the environment. It has
been estimated, by the very government that prohibits the plant, that if we
were to use 6 percent or the continental United States farming land to grow
plant based fuels this country could become completely energy independent.

Hemp is the single greatest source of carbohydrate based fuels, further
while it is growing it exchanges CO2 for O2 and releases the CO2 when
burned using O2 ­ thus completing the balanced cycle. Sadly as I write
this, the DEA and Office of National Drug Control Policy are working to
more tightly control this crop that could potentially be a
trillion-dollar-a-year industry, an industry that could revive our nation's
failing farm economy and help clean up our planet along the way.

BRIAN PARRETT, Austin, Texas