GOB,
Being in the farming (industry) for so long I can tell you why the fields are fallow and not being plowed for bio or whatever.
The Conservation reserve program and others are paying farmers not to produce so that prices on the grain commodities can be kept up to a figure that produces a profit. If the farmers were to plant that ground there would be surpluses of grains that would lower the prices to an unprofitable level...also the losses of game bird and animals would really hurt. In Md where I farmed..the CRP programs were put into effect to stop erodable soils from being farmed and provided land for all kinds of wildlife to live and prosper on. On the 35 acres I had in the program..I had 3 coveys of wild quail where almost all the wild quail have been missing from for 25 yrs. So there are good reasons to have a lot of land out of cultivation. It's gotten to the point where no one can get into farming by buying the farm and paying for it with profits from raising crops or critters.
Another problem right now is there is not enough infrastructure(distilleries and refineries) available to take advantage of all the extra grain that could be produced so that biofuels can be our saviour. Also, don't forget that all that energy you were talking about to produce fuels from oil still have to be used to produce biofuel and don't forget transporting and distributing costs will still be the same. There are also biohazards with bio fuels also. But there are also some things that will be bi-products such as animal feed etc. Just remember..TANSTAAFL...There ain't no such thing as a free lunch...really!
I wish ther was.
And in answer to the thing about the Alaska Pipeline...heck it was slated for export from the word GO. The pipe was mostly purchased from the Japanese...and that is where a preponderance of the exported Alaskan oil goes. I was up there when they started to build the blasted thing and remember all the controversy very well.