Posted on 04/27/2008 11:42:18 AM PDT by Fred
Texas Gov. Rick Perry asked the government to cut "skyrocketing" food prices by waiving half of the renewable fuel standard for ethanol made from grain.
The Republican governor from the oil-producing state said in a statement that such a waiver was "the best, quickest way" to ease rising food costs before lasting damage was done.
"We're diversifying our state's energy portfolio at a rapid rate, but this misguided mandate is significantly affecting Texans' family food bill," he added.
Perry said that over the last three years, the price of corn has shot up 138 percent around the world, while global food prices rose 83 percent.
The renewable fuel standard could push corn prices to an estimated $8.00/bushel for the 2008 crop, which would double last year's price tag, Perry said. That could cost the Texas economy $3.59 billion, Perry calculated.
His spokeswoman could not say immediately whose projections he was quoting.
The governor, whose state is the biggest US gasoline producer, said he appreciated the good intentions behind the federal program that aims to boost renewable fuels.
But he added: "The artificial demand for grain-derived ethanol is devastating the livestock industry in Texas and needlessly creating a negative impact on our state's otherwise strong economy while driving up food prices around the world."
Texas is the biggest US beef producer and its farms rank among the top 10 states in poultry, egg and dairy production--and these animals eat corn-based feed, Perry said.
A Perry spokeswoman could not immediately say whether Texas was the first state to seek such a waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency. "We'd be delighted to have support from other states," another spokeswoman said.
Officials around the world have decried soaring food costs and the increasing use of grains to make biofuels. Food riots have hit several African countries, Indonesia and Haiti.
In the United States this week, Costco Wholesale reported increased demand for rice and flower and Wal-Mart Stores' Sam's Club warehouse division said it was limiting sales of several types of rice.
Wow. Rick Perry doing something I agree with. That’s it. Dogs and cats, living together.
Algore and the dems: “Burn food, not oil!”
Let 'em eat MTBE!
The ethanol dominoes are starting to fall.
YES! Save our precious Ehtanol for DRINKING!
Besides, we can make all the ethanol we want, from Natural Gas Liquids. (the ethane component)
Agreed
Many old wells have filled back up and/or gained pressure since they were left alone decades ago ( some almost a century ago).
Why the hell is the government setting ANY standards for ethanol in fuel, other than spending taxpayer dollars to buy votes?
Let’s waive ALL the ethanol requirement. If ethanol made any sense, the market would support it. But it doesn’t. It wastes fuel, it’s expensive, and it shortens the life of cars in which it is used.
Half of a rotten idea is still rotten.
Well they better hurry up. Congress just agreed on a farm bill that not only continues to advocate burning corn, but also to start burning sugar. Oh, and to help with high food prices an extra $10 billion or so for "relief."
Really? What species of flower is most in demand I wonder. Zinnias? Lillies? Roses? Tulips? Daffodils?
Morons.
“Many old wells have filled back up and/or gained pressure since they were left alone decades ago ( some almost a century ago).”
Absolutely. I grew up in the middle of one of those fields drilled in the 20s and 30s. Even in the 50s and 60s, these old wells had to be ‘managed’. Each well had it’s own pumping schedule where the well would be allowed to rest for a period of time between pumping sessions. Oil would flow towards the wells during the rest periods and extracted during the pumping periods. I don’t think this old field has been operated in the past 20 years. I imagine pressure has increased significantly.
In fact, this old field was featured in an Exxon commercial during the late 70s on the innovative methods used to extract oil from the ‘depleted’ field. Exxon spent a bunch of money using the field as a giant test bed to examine the effects of injecting salt water into the oil bearing regions to push the oil to the wells. The injection rates were varied to measure the best effects on oil production.
Good for Perry. I guess the idea is that half the ethanol farmers would revert to growing food. I wonder which half will take the pay cut.
Shame on the Feds for subsidizing this mess.
I’m against the idea of giving a waiver to Texas on the use of Ethanol. But. I’m strongly in favor of such a waiver for all states, including Texas.
And, I’m in favor of developing our own oil resources using new techniques for recovery in depleted fields, and for development of new domestic sources. I’m also in favor of alternative energy, once its’ proven economically viable, but I’m against shooting ourselves in the foot on the short term with what now amounts to a ‘non-energy’ policy.
“The cities are full of leftist maggots who don’t own cars” and who think the suburbs should be bulldozed and the residents moved into high rise apartments in the cities.
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