Myth Busting – Republicans and Algae
by Mary Rosenthal (Algal Biomass Organization/Biofuels Digest) …When you get past the heated rhetoric of a presidential campaign and the demands of a 24-7 news cycle, support for algae is stronger than you might think. Very quietly, we are seeing support for algae bubbling up at the state level, with recent pro-algae legislation having been passed in Ohio and Arizona.
In Arizona, bipartisan legislation was signed into law by Republican Governor Jan Brewer that would allow algaculture to be defined as agriculture on state trust lands. A second piece of Arizona legislation will tax land used for algaculture in the same favorable manner as agricultural land. In Ohio, Republican Governor John Kasich signed into law bipartisan legislation that defines the production of algae as agriculture in the Ohio Revised Code.
What’s remarkable is that these states are led by Republican governors with certified conservative credentials. They are also all swing states in the 2012 elections. READ MORE
