The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
‘World News’: Create gas out of coal to solve energy woes; CBS: More food stamps allotments needed to match food inflation; 'World News' ties California fires to global warming.

July 9, 2008
 

The Good
     Use it if you got it, when it comes to coal, that is.

     ABC’s July 6 “World News Sunday” showed how the South Africans are taking coal and turning it into a cleaner-burning fuel for automobiles.

     “It’s gasoline, but not as we know it,” ABC correspondent Nick Watt said. “This fuel isn’t refined from crude oil, but from coal. And one day, it could end U.S. reliance on foreign oil.”

     According to Kevin Book, a senior analyst from FBR Capital Markets, the United States has enough coal to replace all of the hydro-carbons used for transportation in America today.

     Plans for a plant that can convert coal to gas have been set in place in the United States, but they are facing pushback from anti-global warming activists. Still, the plant creates much-needed gasoline at a very low price.

     “A small coal-to-liquid plant is planned for Gilberton, Pa.,” Watt said. “But there’s strong opposition because of the carbon emissions issue. And the Air Force plans to convert coal into jet fuel at a base in Montana. And there's enough coal in the U.S. to last an estimated 250 years. Once a plant is built, it’s cheap energy. Here in South Africa, they produce gasoline from coal for just $25 a barrel.”
 

The Bad
     Food inflation is hitting everyone – even if they don't have to pay for food.

     According to the July 2 "CBS Evening News," part of its "The Other America" series – a title strangely similar to former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards' liberal class warfare mantra of "Two Americas" – food stamp recipients are being hit by the rising the cost of food.

     "With food prices climbing, more and more Americans these days are struggling to feed their families," anchor Katie Couric said. "Nearly 28 million rely on food stamps for an average benefit that comes to only about $24 a week for each person. Many are living hand-to-mouth, month-to-month."

     The Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) Web site said the food stamp program is only supposed to provide a "safety net" to the poor. However, as CBS correspondent Seth Doane pointed out, some recipients have become dependent on the system.

     "Food stamps are only designed to supplement food budgets, but now the working poor are relying on them more and more," Doane said.

     Food prices have increased with inflation and the effects of increased corn demand – thanks in large part to government mandates for ethanol – and as a result food stamps don't buy as much at the grocery store. The obvious solution according to Doane: the government should increase allotments at a cost to taxpayers.

     "But change isn't coming any time soon," Doane said. "The government won't consider raising food stamp allotments until October."

     The federal government pays 100 percent of food stamp program benefits – $28.6 billion in 2005. Federal and state governments split the administrative costs, according to FRAC.
 

The Ugly
     ABC’s July 7 “World News with Charles Gibson” candidly suggested global warming is playing a role in the fires that have hit 558,738 acres in California.

     “Temperatures [are] running into the 90’s inland,” correspondent Brian Rooney said. “But also what’s happening here may be part of what scientists say is a trend in wildfires occurring across the country. In recent years, scientists have said that global warming has contributed to the length and damage of the fire season.”

     Rooney’s report isn’t the first time a journalist has blamed global warming for severe weather. Alarmists and reporters have blamed climate change for bigger hurricanes, tornadoes and flooding in the Midwest.

     Rooney cited the growth of fires, in terms of acres affected and length of the season, as evidence the changes over the last 48 years are correlated with global warming.

     “There are good fire years and bad,” Rooney said. “But back in 1960, wildfires across the country burned 4.5 million acres. Four years ago that number spiked over 8 million acres. And in the last two years, over 9 million acres burned. And the journal Science reported that since scientists started collecting statistics in 1970, the length of the wildfire season has increased by 78 days. That’s 64 percent.”

     Rooney ignored the dramatic population growth in California, which requires more land usage, increasing the potential for more wildfires.

     “But with dry conditions and population growth into rural, fire-prone areas, the job of putting out wildfires keeps expanding in California, [Ruben Grijalva, director of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection] said,” John Woolfolk wrote for the San Jose Mercury News on June 14.

     “I don’t consider us to have a fire season anymore,” Grijalva told the Mercury News. “I consider it to be a year-round threat in California. We’ve had fires in Southern California as late as November.”

The Good, the Bad & the Ugly tracks the best and worst media coverage of business and economics. Readers are invited to submit suggestions or news tips to Staff Writer Jeff Poor at jpoor@mediaresearch.org.