In recent discussions of the oil terminals, one statement keeps coming up and I think it should be addressed. That is that we should not complain about the oil terminals since we all drive cars that require gasoline, or words to that effect.

That’s really a strawman argument. Internal combustion engines do not necessarily require gasoline. Technically speaking, they require nothing more than a combustible fluid. That fluid can be liquid or gaseous.

In the first part of the 20th century cars ran on combustion of alcohol or cleaning solvents or paraffin or any one of a number of combustibles. A large number ran on electricity produced from batteries.

Indianapolis race cars have used alcohol, exclusively, since 1964. In recent years the most consistent winners of the 24 hours of Le Mans have been diesel hybrid powered cars. Electric cars now get mileage per charge that is close to internal combustion engine numbers. It is easier to buy gasoline with alcohol already in it, as an oxidizer, then without. Motor fuel that is 85 percent alcohol is ubiquitous throughout the Midwest and has been for some time. Alcohol fuel made from sugar is cheaper and more plentiful in Brazil than gasoline. Gas stations in Australia and New Zealand all have the regular complement of liquid fuel, as well as natural gas facilities, as a matter of course. CNG and LPG are available everywhere.

We do not need petroleum as a combustible fuel, and we never have. For the three years that I owned my diesel Mercedes I drove it back and forth between Aberdeen and Redmond on biodiesel that I made in my own shop for 75 cents a gallon. It ran better, smoother and quieter on the biofuel than on petroleum diesel.

When I was a kid we made alcohol to run in our go kart engines even though we didn’t call it biofuel. The truth is, according to the petroleum industry’s own reports, biofuels could completely replace petroleum in less than five years. That’s the big worry from their point of view.

Farmers in East Grays Harbor County made their own biofuels during the Depression to run their farm equipment. We have always known how to make biofuel — the technology is more than 100 years old, and we grow the materials to make it every day and everywhere.

I’m glad the port is open to the cannabis industry in Satsop as that is a burgeoning new industry. Biofuel is one of the many thousands of products that could be made from industrial hemp as well. Let’s bring that here.

Alan Richrod

Aberdeen