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 .
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.