Green Island, Going Green?

An article in the Troy Record this month reported that the Village of Green Island is converting to the use of “environmentally friendly” motor oil derived from unused cow fat. The motor oil is manufactured at a company in Illinois, distributed locally here in the Capital District and is touted as being not only a superior lubricant but biodegradable and “renewable”.

I don’t usually comment on the Animal Law related stories and cases reported in this blog, but I just can’t resist here as many thoughts and questions jumped out at me from this article.

First, is this really a “green” technology? The statistics on how much energy, water and land use are required to raise one beef cow are well published, and staggering. Even though the technology presently uses cow fat, which is essentially a waste product from slaughterhouses that process animals for food, could this change in a point in time between twenty and fifty years from now where the world’s crude oil supplies are depleted to the point where it is more economically feasible to raise animals not for food production, but for energy? In a country that, by some statistics, has 5% of the world’s population, yet consumes nearly 25% of the world’s resources this scenario may be a closer reality than some would think. Let us remember that less than 100 years ago whales were hunted almost to extinction for the energy contained in their blubber in the form of oil.

If animals start to be raised strictly for energy, what will be the impact on water resources in this country which we are just starting to realize may be the threatened natural resource of this century? Will animals be cheaply and inhumanely raised overseas and the resulting bio-mass transported to the US for conversion to end-user energy products? Will such events result in increased interaction between the legal system, animals and people?

Should such events come to pass will small firm or solo-attorney Animal Law practices become merged with larger law firms’ Energy and Regulatory Practices to provide guidance on the many new laws and regulations which surely would come about as a result of the conversion of our energy industry? Will conflict arise between activist groups and corporations as our country struggles to supply energy through any means possible, including the use of animal bio-mass fuel to power our energy thirsty lifestyles?

Perhaps the questions posed are far-fetched and hypothetical, however, I hope that our bar finds the questions thought provoking and a further illustration of how Animal Law touches on all types of law practices.