Bush protests heat up in Latin America

WASHINGTON - When Americans voted for George W. Bush in November 2000, they knew they were electing a man with deep ties to Texas oil.
But six years later, a greener-sounding Bush is about to depart for a trip to Brazil, where he hopes to forge a biofuels partnership that officials believe could revolutionize America's fuel industry and transform its relations with Latin America.
Critics suspect the president's biofuels conversion is only superficial, a late-in-the-day effort to build a less oil-splattered legacy. ..... Such is the level of intensity that Bush and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will meet twice this month, a rarity for even the closest U.S. ally. After they meet Thursday in Brasilia, Lula will come on March 31 to Camp David, where the biofuels pact may be finalized.

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For years, Brazil tried in vain to persuade U.S. officials of the merits of ethanol, which had made the largest country in South America virtually energy self-sufficient.
"The price of oil for a long time didn't compel," said Donna Hrinak, U.S. ambassador to Brazil from 2002 to 2004. She recalls Brazil raising the issue in 2003. "Our response was 'We are working on the hydrogen car. We are happy with that and we'll see you later.' "
That began to change with the emergence since 1999 of Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, who is using his country's vast petroleum reserves to undermine U.S. influence in the region.
Bush got a taste of that firsthand in November 2005 when he attended a regional summit in Argentina that was marred by anti-U.S. riots stoked by Chavez.

On his way back from the summit, Bush stopped in Brazil, where he got a much warmer reception. Lula invited him to his country home, known as Crooked Creek Ranch, for a relaxed barbecue.
"It was a very good, cordial meeting, lots of smiles and a warm atmosphere," said John Danilovich, U.S. ambassador to Brazil from 2004 to 2006, who was present. "There's a real rapport between the two men."
A leftist former union leader, Lula might not seem Bush's natural ally. But he is big on biofuels. He keeps a display in his office of feedstock samples and the fuels they produce. Bush and Lula have grown so close that they regularly speak by phone, often outside office hours.

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In the meantime the president received a letter from his brother in Tallahassee. Florida had taken a beating from the 2005 hurricane season, sending gas prices soaring. The governor's contacts in Miami were touting Brazil as a model for energy independence.
Jeb Bush wrote to his brother in April, urging the president to implement "a comprehensive ethanol strategy for our country and our hemisphere."
Rather than buy oil from hostile nations such as Venezuela, which supplies about 12 percent of U.S. petroleum needs, Jeb Bush said the United States ought to buy biofuels from friendly countries such as Brazil and Colombia, as well as Central America and the Caribbean.
Jeb Bush was already deep in talks with the Brazilian ethanol industry about a joint partnership. In December, two weeks before leaving office, he co-founded the Interamerican Ethanol Commission to promote regional production. Rodrigues, who gave President Bush the biofuels lecture, was a co-signer.

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Since January, Bush has been on a tear, visiting biofuels labs in North Carolina and Delaware. He hosted a hybrid car demonstration at the White House.
Last week, Bush led a panel of biofuels scientists at a leading enzymes company. Bush chatted knowledgeably about the science of ethanol and new technology to make it from nonfood crops.
"I am passionate about this subject," he told the audience. ..... U.S. environmentalists also remain deeply suspicious of the White House's motives, sensing a rush to redeem the president's legacy in his last two years in office.
"If President Bush really wanted to be the biofuels president, he would put a carbon tax on fossil fuels. He won't do it, though," said Bruce Babcock, a leading agricultural economist at Iowa State University. A carbon tax on gasoline would make biofuels more competitive, stimulating private investment, he said.

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