Long-time readers know my position on protectionism and moves towards energy independence. So it should be no surprise that I find this wonderfully ironic.
At a ceremony this month, energy firm Maple Cos. closed a deal to buy 25,000 acres of unused and heretofore unwanted land near the city of Piura. The Dallas company announced plans to invest $120 million in an ethanol processing plant, a sugar-cane field to provide raw material for the fuel and a mile-long underwater pipeline to the Pacific Ocean to deliver fuel to tankers and onward to U.S. customers.
...It's easy for entrepreneurs and government officials to wax on about ethanol as they contemplate booming U.S. demand, which last year grew 30% and could have years of expansion ahead. President Bush, in his State of the Union address Tuesday, called for increasing use of alternative fuels such as ethanol — which can be made from sugar, grains and even plant waste — as part of a strategy to reduce U.S. dependence on imported oil.
Maple sees Peru, with its favorable growing conditions and trade preferences with the United States, as the perfect platform from which to fulfill such demand.
"The big driver for us is that Peru is one of the best places in the world to grow sugar cane in terms of how many tons you can produce per acre per year," Canon said.
Ah, the wonders of comparative advantage.