By Julie Bierach, KWMU
SAINT LOUIS, MO – Senator Kit Bond was in St. Louis Wednesday to take part in a panel discussion about energy policy.
The energy roundtable, which took place at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, focused on the role plant sciences play in the path to sustainable energy.
The meeting is a timely one, considering gasoline prices are close to $4.00 a gallon.
Joining Senator Bond were top plant scientists in St. Louis. They talked about how plant-based alternative fuels are part of the solution to high gasoline prices.
Gerald Steiner, Executive Vice President of Monsanto says the key to meeting the demand for food and biofuel is by increasing yield sustainability. "No one wants to choose between food security and energy security. No family wants to choose between affordable fuel and affordable food. We need both and we believe that we can do both," said Steiner
Although the panel sought to focus on transportation fuel, the issue of nuclear energy crept into the discussion. Senator Bond says the U.S needs to re-think its position against nuclear power and off-shore drilling.
"It has been the not in my backyard syndrome that has cut off so much of our production. It stopped nuclear power," said Senator Bond. "ANWR, had the bill not been vetoed in authorizing it in 1995, we'd be getting a million gallons of gasoline a day.