BP and Berkeley Biofuels Lab = Public Interest?

BP and Berkeley (and the DOE) have teamed up to pour $500MM into research for biofuels.  There was a fluff piece on NPR today about that effort.  While on the surface it might be considered admirable that a big oil company would invest in our research of alternative fuel technologies - when you peel back the onion and really look at the deal - its a big giveaway to big oil wrapped in a public relations friendly package.  Basically they get all of the important benefits of private investment from research on this topic but have it subsidized by public monies.  As a Californian and taxpayer I really have to question the wisdom and equity of essentially giving taxpayer dollars to a private corporation in order to monopolize a public insitution on this topic - not to mention providing them a sweetheart deal to monetize any fruits of that research at our cost.  Research institutions exist to do research - when funded by public monies those efforts should be public available information.  Does a $500MM grant really offset what the State of California is giving BP in terms of access, infrastructure, prestige, etc.?

This deal is rife with problems.  BP has defacto control over the research agenda on both the public and private side of the lab.  BP gets to use the inventions created through this research free of charge.  Most concerning is that BP will be able to use its position to block usage of inventions coming out of lab staff (public employees I remind you) by others through a first right of refusal.  The last one is a doozy as anyone that has followed the large format NiMH battery saga can attest - the risks of large entrenched corporate interests to block potentially market changing technologies is real.  And if BP doesn’t like the way things are going - they can yank their funding at a moments notice. 

We are subsizing the research with the risk that if its succesful, BP will charge us to use it - and the university never gets more than that $500MM - as if oil companies aren’t subsidized enough by current public policy.  Its as if the Board of Regents at UC Berkeley have never read the Innovator’s Dilemma…

Do we really want BP to do this in biofuels on our taxpayer dime?