Posted on 12/29/2015 6:53:39 AM PST by Isara
- Every Republican who has won the Iowa caucuses since 1980 has strongly backed ethanol....
- Enter Ted Cruz. Insiders agree the Texas senator is the current frontrunner going into the Feb. 1 caucuses. He's been unabashedly critical of federal support for ethanol, including the RFS, which he sees as market-distorting corporate welfare.
- Recognizing he poses an existential threat to the special benefits it receives from the government, the corn lobby is going all in to stop Cruz in Iowa.
....
- But what if they aren't able to stop him?
- Here's the bottom line: If Cruz wins Iowa, it could become untenable for a Republican to embrace the RFS in 2020 and win over fiscal conservatives. Outside groups - and major donors - will be able to cite Cruz's victory and refuse to be as forgiving as they have historically of a politician breaking with free-market orthodoxy in the name of political exigency.
...
- The other Republican aspirants continue to kiss King Corn's ring, to varying degrees.
Donald Trump, who has seen Cruz overtake him in the state, has unabashedly embraced ethanol. At a Des Moines rally two weeks ago, he surrounded himself on stage with ethanol proponents, all wearing green shirts. The billionaire businessman then accused the Texan of opposing ethanol because he's in the pocket of big oil companies. "I say to myself: If Ted Cruz is against ethanol, how does he win in Iowa?" Trump said. "Because that's very anti-Iowa."
....
"Though RFS may be important to caucus-goers, it certainly isn't the only issue," Michael Needham, executive director of Heritage Action,.... "And when Americans look at the challenges we face as a nation, it is reasonable for them to look at a politician who panders on ethanol and suspect that individual will not make the best commander-in-chief."
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
I, for one, am sick and tired of having to buy 20 Proof Gasoline.
Me too. And so are our engines.
The ethanol mandate is idiocy. Kill it - for the good of our engines. Kill it for America.
Serious question, as I am ignorant of this: Does adding ethanol increase or decrease refining costs?
Except it’s not going away....anymore than solar, or wind or electric are going away.
That’s what I’m wondering.
How the hell is a caucus election going to “kill” this when the damn state goes to the Democrats almost every election!?
—> Does adding ethanol increase or decrease refining costs? <—
-
Since the ethanol is blended with the gasoline after refining,
adding ethanol has no impact on the refining cost.
The ethanol just serves to “water-down” the gasoline.
good question.
One thing that I do know (I think...) is the refineries have made significant investments to cope with the mandate, and this infrastructure can’t just be ignored. the refineries did what they had to, and it would be rather unjust to walk away from them.
it seems that the payers of the cost of bad public policy should be borne by many, not by a few - especially when those few didn’t do anything wrong.
i don’t think the mandate can be done away with quickly....it will be like a ten year wind down.
that’s just the way I see it, maybe wrongly...
WP is very concerned!
End it.
Serious question, as I am ignorant of this: Does adding ethanol increase or decrease refining costs?
**************
Ethanol is added after refining and usually right before delivery to gas stations. a 10% ethanol 90% gas mix reduces fuel economy by about 5% ,,, also alcohol greatly damages small boats which generally have fiberglass fuel tanks by dissolving the resins into the fuel... small engines (mowers etc.) are far more difficult to get started and to store for the winter... Ethanol was originally mandated as a backdoor way to shore up sugar cane in south Florida and the high fructose corn syrup lobby... it has no benefit economically or functionally for you running your car... In fact if you go to states that grow a lot of corn you’ll find gas pumps everywhere with pure gasoline... The Iowans know the fuel stinks and they won’t use it themselves.
They sound ‘worried’...........................
I, for one, am sick and tired of having to buy 20 Proof Gasoline.
I, for one, am sick and tired of having to buy more expensive groceries because our food is being turned into alcohol instead of beef and chicken.........................
One thing that I do know (I think...) is the refineries have made significant investments to cope with the mandate, and this infrastructure can’t just be ignored. the refineries did what they had to, and it would be rather unjust to walk away from them.
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The refineries have nothing to do with this ,, ethanol is mixed in after refining (otherwise it would all cook off) ,, you cannot “pipeline” gas with ethanol so there’s no investment there either. The “infrastructure” is the distilleries in corn country ,,, let them go bankrupt like Solyndra ,, they’re in the same league ,, or switch to Whiskey production. I’ve been taxed to death for the benefit of multi-millionaire farmers with 2,000 acres with lower fuel economy for decades now. SCREW THEM... I don’t see how you can call ending the SCREW JOB they’re putting on me and you “UNJUST”.
Serious question...
Alcohol is much more expensive than gasoline and many think that the EPA has cooked the books on any pollution benefits. Alcohol is a low BTU fuel that is destructive to older cars and small engines. My ATV needs a new neoprene diaphragm every year as alcohol dissolves it. Fuel lines and carburetors parts are dissolved by alcohol in lawnmowers and all maintenance equipment. This fuel is a form of corporate welfare and a political payoff for the Eco nuts.
About 51 cents of every gallon of gas is costs due to ethanol.
Serving the interests of America even while he's campaigning!
“... Cruz will likely not win Iowa ...”
We’ll see ... ;-)
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