Free Republic

Supporters wonder why Sen. Obama is not polling higher in farm country By all conventional standards, Sen. John McCain is not courting what some might call the "traditional" farm vote in his race for the presidency--members of those interest groups and trade associations who are strong supporters of commodity price supports. In fact, some might argue that he's gone out of his way to alienate this voting block, with his opposition to subsidies in the farm bill and for ethanol. For example, consider his comments made recently to an invitation-only group at the Harry Truman Library in Independence, Mo. "My...

The US Department of Agriculture on Friday trimmed its estimate for the amount of corn to be used for ethanol production by 100 million bushels, citing weakening gasoline demand. "Ethanol corn use for 2008/09 is projected 100 million bushels lower as reduced gasoline consumption is expected to slow the expansion of blending modestly over the coming months," the USDA said. The cut resulted in a forecast of 4 billion bushels in the agency's monthly crops report. The agency maintained a projected use of 3 billion bushels of corn for the 2007-2008 period. Just last week, volumes of conventional gasoline blended...

The collapse of the ethanol boom continues as a Pratt-based ethanol producer is the latest to file bankruptcy. Gateway Ethanol LLC has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, estimating it owes between $50 million and $100 million. The filing comes weeks after Minneapolis-based Dougherty Funding LLC sought to have Gateway placed in emergency receivership to preserve any money being returned to creditors. It moved to foreclose on the company’s plant in May, saying Gateway defaulted on a $54.3 million loan used to build the facility. In a motion field in the U.S. District Court of Kansas in September, Dougherty noted...

Folks, I spoke with a few Iowans I know and they report that many of their friends and relatives back home want to vote for McCain. But they want him to reverse his position and support Ethanol. Since McCain is the only candidate on record supporting a freeze on government spending, I think its a good idea for him to SUPPORT ethanol, and cut something else instead in its place.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- The chief executive of ethanol producer Poet sees U.S. ethanol producers potentially replacing nearly all the country's gasoline supply by 2030 on higher corn yields and the rise of fuel made from corn cobs, wood chips and switchgrass. Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Poet has been flying below Wall Street's radar partly because it remains privately held through a collection of 10,000 equity partners, many of whom are Midwestern farmers. Still, the 20-year-old company looms large among ethanol makers in the corn belt with a targeted 2008 production capacity of 1.5 billion gallons, rivaling VeraSun Energy Corp. and...

Japanese firms—including traders and car manufacturers as well as oil and gas companies—are fast stepping up their interest in Brazil's bioethanol industry. But the increased interest in, and development of, Brazil's bioethanol industry already is beginning to saturate the country's transport and export infrastructure, with more bottlenecks likely on the way. Itochu Corp. is the latest Japanese firm to enter the market, announcing plans to produce bioethanol in Brazil through an alliance with major US grain processor Bunge Ltd. The Japanese trading house has agreed to acquire a 20% stake in Agroindustrial Santa Juliana SA, a Brazilian bioethanol production firm...

On a recent trip to the Black Hills, I discovered a way to get better mileage. Whenever I was able to buy gas with no ethanol in it, I got a full 20 percent better mileage. I put this to a calculator and found that using gas laced with ethanol caused me to use 17 percent more gas. So, we pay taxes to support the ethanol industry; we pay more to use ethanol because of poorer mileage, which also causes us to put more hydrocarbons into the air — not to mention the pollutants put into the air distilling the...

A new Quad-City Times and Lee Enterprises poll of Iowa voters shows Democrat Barack Obama holding a commanding lead in the state with a little more than six weeks to go before Election Day. In a survey of 600 likely voters who vote regularly in state elections, 53 percent said they would support Obama, and 39 percent said they would support Republican John McCain. A total of 3 percent in the poll said they would support someone else, and another 5 percent were undecided.

Biofueled Food Shortages? by: Irene Warren, September 15, 2008 America’s renewable energy plan remains bleak, as biofuel was found to give off more Greenhouse Gas Emissions than renewable energy, explained a panel of experts yesterday at the Hudson Institute. Although experts disagreed on the next course to take in keeping Americans fed, they, for the most part agree that biofuel drives up cost and can even cause a universal food shortage in the long run. In light of the Global Warming, “the World Bank is warning of climate chaos and demands a rebuilding of the world’s agricultural science centers to...

What happens when presidents from more than 100 of the nation's best-known colleges call on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18? Well, a brigade of hyperbolic mommies start screaming at them, that's what. In the Amethyst Initiative, college presidents have offered a rational, if counterintuitive, plan. Let's stop treating young adults like wards of the state. Mothers Against Drunk Driving (naturally) replied: No debate allowed. There is plenty of empirical evidence suggesting that the drinking age of 21 is counterproductive. To begin with, it bars parents from educating their own children about alcohol and, like...

I have some serious disagreements with President Bush. As a Texan, I have a right to be critical. I voted for the man 4 times. I’ve felt that the gent fell into a trap at some point. In essence he morphed into a typical, liberal Globalist, placing too high a value on world opinion. Constantly pandering, trying to win global approval. A bleeding heart for the so-called “emerging nations”. That being said I must give him credit for something that he has done for our Nation. Something that he is probably totally unaware that he did. His decision that “could”...

Ethanol's wild ride has brought it quickly from political golden child to scapegoat for everything from soaring food prices and world hunger to pork-barrel spending.

Calculated bioethanol yield per hectare. A study by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists found that sweet potatoes grown in Maryland and Alabama, and tropical cassava grown in Alabama, yielded between two to three times as much carbohydrate (starch, sucrose, glucose) for fuel ethanol production via fermentation as field corn grown in those states. Dr. Lew Ziska, a plant physiologist at the ARS Crop Systems and Global Change Laboratory in Beltsville, Md., and colleagues at Beltsville and at the ARS National Soil Dynamics Laboratory in Auburn, Ala., performed the study. The research is unique in comparing the root crops to...

BOTUCATU, Brazil (AFP) - Brazilian biofuel, already available for nine out of 10 cars on the roads, is also keeping a small but growing fleet of aircraft aloft, the company making them says. Some 200 single-engine, single-seat Ipanema planes made by Neiva, a subsidiary of Brazilian aircraft maker Embraer, are now burning cheap ethanol made from sugarcane for their crop-dusting and public health missions. < > Brazil is the second-biggest producer of ethanol in the world (again, after the United States), generating 18 billion liters last year, of which around 17 percent was exported.

One of Japan's largest sake manufacturers, Gekkeikan, has announced the development of a new "super yeast" able to produce cellulosic ethanol from non-edible parts of plants, such as paddy straw and chaff. The super yeast that produces alcohol was created with genetic engineering, by integrating koji mold genes that produce cellulolytic enzymes into sake yeast. These enzymes become densely displayed on the surfaces of the yeast cells. Since this super yeast has the functions of the standard koji mold, it achieves one-step production of ethanol from pretreated cellulose. The company claims the whole process is completed with a new easier...

Forget food crops. Future fuels will come from more practical feedstocks. Plus, each generation will use fewer resources and pack more energy than the last. PM crunches the numbers on alternative fuels for the real world.By Chris Ladd Photograph by Bill DiodatoPublished in the September 2008 issue. Eric Meek of the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y., created this handblown beaker for our cover story. Watch the beaker take shape on PopMech TV right here. RELATED STORIES • NEW COVER STORY: "The Shape of Fuels to Come," On Sale Now! Process*: Raw biomass is typically ground up and pretreated...

In this transmission electron micrograph of the mesoporous nanospheres, the nano-scale catalyst particles show up as the dark spots. Using particles this small (~ 3nm) increases the overall surface area of the catalyst by roughly 100 times. Nanoscale catalysts could tap syngas as cheap source of ethanolAMES, Iowa –Say the word “biofuels” and most people think of grain ethanol and biodiesel. But there’s another, older technology called gasification that’s getting a new look from researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University. By combining gasification with high-tech nanoscale porous catalysts, they hope to create ethanol...

At what price will corn be so expensive that the federal government will decide that it is time to stop driving up the price of food? Three years ago, Congress imposed a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) mandate that has forced the gasoline industry to mix massive amounts of corn-based ethanol into the nation's fuel supply. In 2007, Congress nearly doubled that mandate to require nine billion gallons of ethanol be blended into gas in 2008 and even more in 2009. But, as a safety valve, Congress gave the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the power to waive the new mandates if...

Oil giants plough cash into cellulosic ethanol specialists, as race for second generation biofuel breakthrough heats up BusinessGreen.com Staff, BusinessGreen 11 Aug 2008 Oil giant BP has announced it is to invest up to $90m as part of a deal with US cellulosic ethanol specialist Verenium intended to accelerate the development of a commercially viable form of biofuel that does not affect food supplies. Under the terms of the alliance, the two companies will form a 50:50 joint venture that will license intellectual property from both firms and undertake new research into the development of cellulosic ethanol made from waste...

 Expanding ethanol use will not reduce global warming, bring down gas prices, relieve our dependence on foreign oil, starve terrorists of funding, restore the family farm, or create jobs. In fact, using more ethanol increases greenhouse gas production and local air pollution and is water-intensive as well as land-intensive.   Resident ScholarKenneth P. Green   Ethanol--the chemical that gives your booze its kick--has been used by mankind for a very long time, 8,000 years or so. Even Stone Age people recognized the value of a good tipple. Of late, ethanol has been touted as the super-fuel that will reduce global...

August 05, 2008, 7:00 a.m. Dreams From My FarmerIf Obama is a reformer, why doesn’t he vote like one? By David Freddoso When conservatives complain about the Obamalovefest all around, it’s not all a reaction to the messianism. The more down-to-earth complaint is that mainstream-media organs have uncritically bought a key idea promoted by Obama’s well-crafted media campaign: that he is a reformer, a positive agent of change who reaches across partisan divides and bucks parochial interests for the common good. This idea is a great lie, and there is a long record to prove it in Springfield and...

Strong Energy Measures Wanted Poll Shows Most Favor New Drilling, Taxes on Oil Profits By Jon Cohen and Paul KaneWashington Post Staff Writers Sunday, August 10, 2008; Page A08 A new national poll shows broad public support for government action in the face of $4-a-gallon gas and other energy concerns, giving Republicans a rare opening to go on the offensive against congressional Democrats and Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.). Nearly two-thirds of Americans now put a priority on "finding new sources of energy" over improving conservation -- a significant shift since 2001 -- and majorities support all of the five potential...

Des Moines, Iowa (AP) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain didn't mince words Friday at the Iowa State Fair, telling corn producers he didn't want to subsidize their ethanol but was eager to help market farm products around the world. "My friends, we will disagree on a specific issue and that's healthy," McCain said as he stood near bales of straw at one of the nation's premier farming showcases. "I believe in renewable fuels. I don't believe in ethanol subsidies, but I believe in renewable fuels." McCain has never been shy about speaking against subsidizing ethanol when he is in...

The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday denied a request by Texas to temporarily cut federal ethanol requirements for the nation's fuel supply, saying the state had not proved that the recent rise in corn prices is severely hurting its economy. Under the energy law signed late last year, 9 billion gallons of ethanol and biodiesel must be blended into gasoline between Sept. 1, 2008, and Aug. 31, 2009, to meet a national Renewable Fuels Standard. Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) sought to reduce that to 4.5 billion gallons, on the grounds that the mandate is hurting livestock producers and increasing food...

HOUSTON, Aug. 7 -- The US Environmental Protection Agency has denied a request submitted by Texas Gov. Rick Perry for a 50% waiver from the federal renewable fuel standard (RFS) mandate for corn-based ethanol. The RFS, part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, requires increased national production of renewable biofuels to 36 billion gal/year by 2022 from 9 billion gal/year in 2008. Perry blamed increased demand for corn-based ethanol for contributing to escalating corn prices, which he said contributes to higher food prices and also higher costs for livestock feed (OGJ Online, July 22, 2008). EPA said...

A modern society such as that in the United States requires personal transportation — cargo trucks, planes, and cars — to make a market economy work. Any serious effort to move our country to mass transportation, such as trains and buses, for everyone and everything all the time — or even most of the time — would destroy not only our economy, but the American way of life. To provide our personal transportation for the foreseeable future, the United States needs oil or an oil substitute. Electric vehicles, the proposed solution by many for America’s transportation problems, have serious drawbacks...

Call Congress back to have an up-or-down vote on a comprehensive energy bill which includes expanded drilling for oil. There is a petition here: http://www.callbackcongress.com/

While ethanol is derived from renewable sources, it is less efficient than gasoline. As a result, a car running on E85 would pay the equivalent of $4.137 per gallon to get the same mileage as gas, the AAA survey estimated.

Rick Kitchings has been a small-engine mechanic for about 30 years, and he’s been busier than ever lately. Recently, a customer came into his shop in Savannah, Ga., with a string trimmer that had barely been used. “It looked like it just came off the showroom floor, but the motor was absolutely shot, absolutely worn out,” Kitchings said. The owner had fueled the trimmer with an gasoline-ethanol blend, which is becoming increasingly common thanks to a federal mandate to convert to biofuels.

The biomass gasifier at Chippewa Valley Ethanol Co. is fuel-flexible by design. Thisrequires a handling system engineered to move feedstocks of varying volumes and densities. Biomass Magazine speaks with Rapat Corp., the engineer of the bulk conveyance system, and equipment vendor Robert White Industries Inc., about the project. The idea was fairly simple. Use the organic material left over from processing an agricultural product, such as potatoes or sugar beets, to produce methane. The methane can then be used as a heat source for the processing facility, or turned into electricity and sold back to the power grid. A team...

Washington's command-and-control approach to the promotion of ethanol and other biofuels has unleashed a host of unintended consequences. The main culprit: the federal mandate forcing 9 billion gallons of ethanol to be produced this year. Satisfying the mandate has diverted roughly 30 percent of U.S. corn production to biofuels. And while the ethanol requirement is not the only factor roiling global food markets -- the falling dollar and rising energy prices have also hiked costs -- if the mandate did not exist, more corn would be available to feed people and livestock.

Harkin: Gas cheaper because of ethanol By Ian Swanson Posted: 07/24/08 11:39 AM [ET] Ethanol is keeping gas prices as much as 40 cents cheaper, according to Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), one of the Senate’s top supporters of corn-based renewable fuels. As a result, the Bush administration should deny Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s (R) request that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) cut in half the federal mandate requiring the oil industry to blend 9 million gallons of ethanol into the nation’s gas supply, Harkin said. “Ethanol is keeping gas 24 to 40 cents cheaper than it otherwise would be,” Harkin...

After years of false starts, a new industry selling motor fuel made from waste is getting a big push in the United States, with the first commercial sales possible within months. Many companies have announced plans to build plants that would take in material like wood chips, garbage or crop waste and turn out motor fuels. About 28 small plants are in advanced planning, under construction or, in a handful of cases, already up and running in test mode. For decades scientists have known it was possible to convert waste to fuel, but in an era of cheap oil, it...

The ethanol industry, until recently a golden child that got favorable treatment from Washington, is facing a critical decision on its future. Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is asking the Environmental Protection Agency to temporarily waive regulations requiring the oil industry to blend ever-increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline. A decision is expected in the next few weeks. Mr. Perry says the billions of bushels of corn being used to produce all that mandated ethanol would be better suited as livestock feed than as fuel. Feed prices have soared in the last two years as fuel has begun competing with...

Advocates claim that ethanol mandates and subsidies protect our planet, enhance U.S. security, and ease our pain at the pump. In fact, ethanol policy hurts all Americans except for the tiny slice of the population that grows corn or distills it into ethanol. What is ethanol? Basically, in the United States, it is moonshine derived from the starch in corn. You can drink it. Rowdy collegians have been known to mix 1 part ethanol with 40 parts fruit juice to make huge vats of punch for parties. The law does not allow you to drink and drive, but it now...

The increased use of corn-derived ethanol and other bio-fuels has been blamed for rising food prices worldwide. But defenders of these fuels say their impact on food prices is being exaggerated and that new fuels under development will largely bypass that problem in any case. VOA's Greg Flakus has more on the story from College Station, Texas. American corn, wheat and soybean fields feed much of the world and also provide the material from which alcohol fuels like ethanol are produced. Ethanol has benefited the U.S. heartland by giving farmers more stable prices for their grains and creating jobs at...

DNR is dealt a setback to its mission of conservation The agency must use E85 in its vehicles. And, as the ethanol boom grows, grasslands are lost to corn. Before buying vehicles doesn't the private citizen weigh the pros and cons of the purchase? So why is it so unreasonable for the state to … read more do so? Of course this is the same agency that is going to destroy the current largest fishing lake in Wright County on belief you can't have ducks and fish in the same body of water. This is just one more reason for...

U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, one of two Republicans running for governor, sent out an e-release this morning challenging rival “Sarah Steelman’s newfound commitment to repeal the state’s renewable fuel directive…� Hulshof’s campaign contended that Steelman’s call to eliminate Missouri’s ethanol mandate could hike gas prices at a time when Missouri’s are the cheapest in the nation. (Many experts tie Missouri’s low price, in part, to our lower gas taxes.)

Ethanol Industry in DistressBusiness Adviser: 16 Ethanol Plants Filing Bankruptcy, Many More to Come By Todd Neeley DTN Staff Reporter 06/20/08 4:37:15 PM OMAHA (DTN) -- The U.S. ethanol industry is in trouble and can expect to see a rash of bankruptcies and dismantling of at least some production, according to a specialist who helps companies in distress. Alex Moglia, president of Moglia Advisors based in the Chicago area, said he knows of at least 16 ethanol companies that are filing for bankruptcy, and there will be at least two to three times that number filing within the next year....

The Guardian claims to have a confidential World Bank report which concludes that biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% — more than the IMF estimate of 20-30%, and far more than the US government’s claims that biofuels contribute less than 3% to food-price rises. The Guardian and the New York Times suggest the World Bank report is being held back to avoid conflict with the US, though bank chief Robert Zoellick has been vocal about the problem.The Guardian’s reporting on this is fairly shoddy, throwing around percentages without a time frame. Nevertheless, it is fairly clear...

UH-OH: Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis. Secret report: biofuel caused food crisis Biofuels have forced global food prices up by 75% - far more than previously estimated - according to a confidential World Bank report obtained by the Guardian. The damning unpublished assessment is based on the most detailed analysis of the crisis so far, carried out by an internationally-respected economist at global financial body. . . . "Political leaders seem intent on suppressing and ignoring the strong evidence that biofuels are a major factor in recent food price rises," said Robert Bailey, policy adviser at Oxfam. Perhaps they...

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind., July 1 (UPI) -- A Purdue economist says U.S. corn demand is exceeding supply and, combined with Midwestern flood losses, ethanol production might soon stall. Purdue University agricultural economist Chris Hurt says with higher corn prices, fewer ethanol producers can afford the feedstock. In turn, domestic livestock producers and foreign buyers are finding it more difficult to obtain grain. "Everybody is trying to evaluate how many bushels of corn we've lost because of weather-related damage, what the implications are for prices and who can pay these high prices," said Hurt. Using a similar 1993 Midwest flood as...

Getting the U.S.Postal Service to deliver mail efficiently is hard enough. Getting it to deliver it fuel-efficiently is apparently even harder. Bloomberg reports on the latest unintended consequence of the U.S. government’s obligation to outfit many of its vehicle fleets with cars and trucks that run on alternative fuels. That 1992 mandate almost never translates into really alternative-fuel vehicles, like ones that run on natural gas or even electricity. Instead, about 99% of government purchases are “flex-fuel” vehicles that can burn ethanol, but usually don’t.

WASHINGTON -- Food prices could rise even more unless the mysterious decline in honey bees is solved, farmers and businessmen told lawmakers Thursday. "No bees, no crops," North Carolina grower Robert D. Edwards told a House Agriculture subcommittee. Edwards said he had to cut his cucumber acreage in half because of the lack of bees available to rent. About three-quarters of flowering plants rely on birds, bees and other pollinators to help them reproduce. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion annually in crop value.In 2006, beekeepers began reporting losing 30 percent to 90 percent of their hives. This phenomenon...

USDA to report acreage; analysts warn of $10 corn and possible supply crisisSAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- Recent Midwest flooding may have damaged millions of acres of corn crops, analysts expect the U.S. Department of Agriculture to say in its crop acreage report slated for release Monday. The loss of acreage could slash U.S. corn production and push the 2009 season's year-end stocks to the lowest level since just after World War II, analysts said. And the real damage is likely to be even worse than what Monday's 8:30 a.m. EDT report will show, as it's still too early to evaluate...

Des Moines, IA (AHN) - The marine dead zone resulting from the Midwest flooding is expected to expand to over 10,000 square miles, according to researchers from the Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium. The water in the dead zone, approximately the size of Massachusetts, does not have sufficient oxygen at depth to support marine life. Since 1990, the zone, located off the coasts of Louisiana and Texas, usually covers 6,000 square miles, varying according to the flow of the Mississippi River. Its low oxygen content is caused by the presence of large algae blooms which feeds...

Gas prices have us all willing to try alternative fuels. But would you try THIS alternative fuel in the latest cartoon from "Geeks On Caffeine?" Maybe... NOTE: The author of this cartoon requests that you visit his site and not copy the cartoon into this thread. THANKS!

Energy: If Obama wants energy independence through alternative fuels, why doesn't he back imported sugar-based ethanol? This old-style politician knows it isn't grown in the Midwest and Brazil has no electoral votes.Barack Obama says he represents change. He also criticizes John McCain for trying to drill our way to energy independence to add to the profits of Big Oil. But it's Obama who's playing politics by trying to plant our way to energy independence, buying votes with alternative fuel subsidies that benefit ethanol producers such as Archer Daniels Midland. ADM is based in Illinois, the second-largest corn-producing state. Not long...

The hot topic of the moment is energy: Where can we get it? Where can’t we get it? How can we bring the price down? Are there other options? So, of course presumptive presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) has proposed some solutions, which he feels will alleviate the stress Americans are feeling, since their cost of living has increased so drastically due to energy costs. He proposes to tax the windfall profits that oil companies reap by providing consumers with the good they demand at the price the market has demanded. Aside from the obvious flaws in the plan...

While Democratic presidential hopeful Sen. Barack Obama insists drilling for more oil in off-limits federal lands won’t help gas prices come down, there’s at least one thing that would: lifting tariffs on imported ethanol. Problem is, the Illinois senator’s ties to the powerful U.S. ethanol lobby would prevent him from doing it. “I got to tell you – ethanol mafia is a powerful thing, Jim,” CNBC “Street Signs” host Erin Burnett said June 23, noting all the breaks the industry is getting from the U.S. government. “The ethanol emperors – or they are the mafia.” “Mad Money” host Jim Cramer...