Posted on 12/12/2013 12:56:09 PM PST by thetallguy24
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A group of 10 U.S. Senators introduced a bipartisan bill on Thursday to eliminate the corn ethanol mandate, arguing that current law raises the cost of food and animal feed and damages the environment.
The bill, introduced by Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat; Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican; and eight cosponsors, faces an uphill battle as many lawmakers from agricultural states support the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)that dictates that rising volumes of ethanol made from grains, including corn, be blended into motor fuel.
Feinstein said the bill supports development of advanced biofuels, including those from made from soybean oil, grasses and trees. But it would eliminate the mandate for corn-based ethanol, which currently represents the vast majority of biofuels produced in the United States.
She said the corn mandate diverts a large proportion of the U.S. corn crop towards making fuel, raising animal feed and food prices.
In 2012/13, over 4.6 billion bushels of corn was used for the production of ethanol and by-products, out of a drought-reduced total U.S. supply of 11.9 billion bushels, according to the Department of Agriculture.
"I strongly support requiring a shift to low-carbon advanced biofuel, including biodiesel, cellulosic ethanol and other revolutionary fuels. But a corn ethanol mandate is simply bad policy," Feinstein said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Wow! This would be one of the most productive things Congress has done in Decades!
Did ADM forget to send Feinstein the monthly campain contributions?
What the Senator is essentially doing is shifting the subsidy from the bio-fuel industry to the feedlot industry.
Sigh...every silver lining has its cloud, huh?
Hard to reconcile, but Feinstein is not stupid like Pelosi, even though Feinstein is dumb enough to stay in the Senate as a Democrat.
BTW, to produce one barrel of Ethanol requires the consumption of more than one barrel of refined fossil fuel, usually Diesel.
Didn’t Di-Fi vote for it to put in the mandate?
No Food For Fuel !
Get the damn alcohol out of the gasoline. That, in and of itself would raise the gas mileage of automobiles..................
U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley is joining Governor Terry Branstad and U.S Representative Steve King in speaking out against the federal government's proposal to reduce the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline next year.
http://www.yourfortdodge.com/Grassley-King-Challenging-EPA-Ethanol-Proposal/17823327
Even a broken clock .. has the right time twice a day.
This is the first thing I hve heard this woman utter that actually makes sense..., almost !
It costs $!.37 for every one dollar worth of ethanol. That's a $0.37 shortfall .
THe only thing that makes ethanol profitable is the government subsidy .
Also , the ethanol has a lower btu value than gasoline, so you are loseing horsepower there too .
So actually , ethanol is double taxation : #1) the government subsidy, and #2) lower fuel economy / lower milage .
Or is this her subtle way of letting ADM know they need to start sending more to a different account?
Wow. Feinstein is actually doing something that is sensible, rather than “sensible in comparison to Boxer or Pelosi”.
I am scanning the skies for flying swine as we speak...
My sources in Illinois tell me that ADM ain’t doing so hot.
Perhaps they failed to spring for a sufficiently opulent Christmas gift for DiFi this year.
While the mandate amounts to an indirect subsidy, the mandate doesn't apply to e-85, which is what my truck runs on. Corn closed on the CBOT at $4.30 today. That bushel of corn will yield 3 gallons of ethanol and about 18 lbs of distillers dried grains. I paid $2.93 a gallon for e-85 this morning and ddgs are currently trading for about $225 per ton, so by my rough calculation, that $4.30 bushel of corn applied as ethanol feedstock will yield about $10.80 in value.
Removal of the mandate will drive the more inefficient operators out of the market, but should make e-85 more attractive.
Even a stopped clock is right twice a day/
Feinstein said the bill supports development of advanced biofuels, including those from made from soybean oil, grasses and trees.
Any substance which is subsidized by the government will become a cash crop to the detriment of the unsubsidized. It might seem harmless to subsidize fuel made from grass, but that would likely lead to farmers replacing corn with grass.
No biofuel subsidies at all, please.
Ain’t that the truth. This is one mandate that even my ultra liberal daughter wants to see overturned!
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