Posted on 08/10/2013 2:00:34 PM PDT by Hojczyk
This matters because for refineries to stuff ballooning amounts of ethanol into a static gas pool, they must blend it at levels of more than 10%. Since the nation's auto makers have declared they will void the warranties of cars using gas with more than 10% ethanol, refineries face lawsuits. Most have instead turned to buying federal renewable "credits" to make up for the ethanol they don't blend.
As demand for these credits skyrockets, so has the price—jumping from a few pennies a gallon last year to close to $1 a gallon today. Oil refiner Valero has said the credits could raise its cost by a stunning $750 million this year, a hit that will be passed on to consumers. PBF Energy just told investors that its disappointing second-quarter earnings were rooted in the mandate, noting that the $200 million it expects to fork over for ethanol credits this year will exceed the salaries and wages that it pays to operate all three of its refineries.
So who is the lucky dog? Who could make this happen? That's the best part. The EPA won't say. The agency not only refused to name the refinery in its rule, but also obscured certain numbers in the document to hide the beneficiary's identity. An EPA press officer would not give me the name, citing "confidentiality restrictions."
The public should want to know too. Washington is rife with secret deals that reward select corporate players, and the numbers have only accelerated under this "most transparent" of administrations. If the process by which the EPA issued this exemption was aboveboard, it should have no problem divulging details. Until that time, the public might fairly assume funny business.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Is this why the price of gas is so high ?????
These people truly, truly are scum. Septic-tank scum.
I think it’s more that this is why the price of gas isn’t coming down.
Does Warren Buffet have any interest in refineries? If he has put his money on a particular refinery, that refinery will be granted exempt status.
Just another big payoff for friends of Obama.
The whole ethanol scam is nothing but theft.
a) this is just more 0bama. I can’t wait until that loser is gone.
b) how can refineries be afraid of lawsuits when it’s the EPA forcing them to add ethanol?
something doesn’t smell right
Another federal scam to pick the pockets of citizens through the back door.
Sad to say, the ethanol scam is on George Bush and the republicans who once again did the dirty work for democrats.
Ethanol voids some warranties on ATV also. My manual says not to use it. It destroys diaphragms in the carburetors and softens gas lines. We have plenty of crude to use for fuel so these fools use food to replace fuel? What idiots they and we are!
The Federal Government at work:
1. Ethanol has LESS energy by volume than gasoline does.
2. The EPA is mandating that this less economical form of fuel be used.
3. If I got this article right, the EPA is requiring by regulation that X amount of ethanol be used, regardless of the amount of gasoline manufactured. On the other hand, automotive makers only warranty vehicle engines up to 10% ethanol because of the problems associated with using alcohol as a fuel.
So, with the economic slowdown, less gas is being used. But the EPA is requiring a set number of gallons to use. But the refiners can’t use it because it voids car warranties.
The government’s solution is to “let” the refiners buy credits for the ethanol that is not used. And the refiners pass that on to us.
No wonder gas is $3.50 per gallon.
This CRAP has got to stop.
In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Washington’s Latest Special Favor (Of the nation’s 143 refineries, one was exempted), Hojczyk wrote:
Is this why the price of gas is so high ?????
Gee! I believe you answered your own question.
But this sort of stuff was going on during the 2012 elections and the architects, and other geniuses known as GOPES (gop elite snob-s)and RINOS were still looking for their “demographics” didn’t bring this up.
Now that they found their “demographics” this is not among them because “amnesty” is their solution. That’ill bring down the price of the cost on everything and just raise the minimum wage.
Probably not, but it is why you get 3 to 4 mpg less than you would with non-ethanol gas and why beef prices have doubled.
The MSM doesn’t give a crap, so this isn’t news, and never will be.
But I thought it was found that ethanol gums up engines? And the government insists we ruin our vehicles? Help! Is there no agency to help us?
Why are we putting ethanol in our vehicles? What is the purpose?
I have an ethanol free station in Pocatello. That’s the only place I fill up my motorcycles. Slightly more expensive per gallon, but my Fat Bob is getting 50 to 54 MPG vs 38 MPG on the ethanol tainted stuff. My fuel cost per mile is lower.
everything in American life, western societies, is based on the honesty of the individual citizen..
..the only reason a country can run fairly smoothly is that MOST of us obey the laws, pay taxes, etc.....
a country can get by when a tiny minority doesn't pay taxes, or commits crime, as long as the majority do...
but when the very govt is committing crime?....there's nothing to do about it....
Ethanol is a joke and is just a government subsidy for corn farmers and ethanol producers. It is ironic that in South Dakota where ethanol is next to Mom’s apple pie and religion the State motor pool gave up using an 85% ethanol gasoline blend in its fleet of flex fuel vehicles. The reason was that the cost per mile was too high despite E85 being heavily subsidized to an average of nearly 25 cents per gallon less than regular gasoline.
4..Ethanol burns with a high temperature almost invisible flame and requires special fire extinguishers (that most Fire Depts don't have)
The ethanol scam is a fully bipartisan project. It is wrong to blame it on Democrats alone. It would, however, be very interesting to learn which refinery gets the exemption. It is undoubtedly a small, obscure refinery that has poor economic performance. It is likely an old, unionized, and hopelessly uneconomic facility owned by a small company.
Conservatives really need to avoid ODS. There are plenty of serious scandals for which Obama has been responsible. This probably isn’t one of them.
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