I was very impressed today by the presentation here at the Clean Cities Congress given by J.J. Brown, Legislative Aide for Utah Senator Orrin Hatch. We’re hearing a lot of whining and complaining in the media about gas prices and lately a lot is being said about oil company profits. After hearing Senator McCain yesterday mention ADM and his lack of support for what he calls ethanol subsidies I think it’s time to put things into perspective.

JJ did just that today in his speech. It’s the best description of things from a global and United States perspective I’ve heard.

Some points that he made include the following. He wanted to bust the myth that oil company profits and the salaries of their CEO’s is responsible for the high price of gas. He said that taxing oil company profits and giving that money to tax funded government programs like Medicare won’t help generate a single drop of oil.

In the short term he thinks alternative fuels will go a long way to help us feed our hunger for fuel. He said that his boss, the Senator, fully supports renewable fuel alternatives and providing assistance to companies and organizations who want to build facilities to develop the various alternatives.

I recommend you listen to his talk: JJ Brown Speech (30 min MP3)