Posted on 01/20/2016 4:09:11 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
"...Corn has long been king in Iowa, the nation's top corn-producing state, implanting in Iowa voters a sentiment that every candidate must cheer Washington's backing for ethanol. Since 2011, though, that universal backing has been eroding.
Congress decided at the end of 2011 not to renew a tax credit that cost the government $6 billion a year. Critics of the government’s ethanol policy then set their targets on the ethanol mandate, which requires refineries to blend an increasing amount of biofuels into the U.S. gasoline supply each year.
At the ethanol summit Tuesday, Mr. Trump also read a prepared statement opposing Congress "changing any part of the RFS," or Renewable Fuel Standard, the mandate's formal name.
This year's presidential election is testing the corn industry's political power more than ever, with Republican candidates seeking to find a middle ground between repealing the mandate outright, a move supported by the party's conservative base, and phasing it out.
Mr. Cruz, who is leading in the latest polling ahead of Iowa's caucus, has sought a balance between backing a powerful political constituency and eschewing "big-government" policies the conservative base abhors.
Mr. Cruz has faced criticism from the ethanol industry primarily through America's Renewable Future, the group Mr. Branstad works for. Mr. Branstad's father, the governor, on Tuesday urged Iowa Republicans not to vote for Mr. Cruz because of his lack of support for the ethanol mandate...."
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
Donald Trump said Tuesday that federal regulators should increase the amount of ethanol blended into the nation's gasoline supply.
Speaking at an event hosted by the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, Trump, a real estate mogul and the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, said the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ought to follow the ethanol volumes Congress set in 2007.
"The EPA should ensure that biofuel... blend levels match the statutory level set by Congress under the [renewable fuel standard]," Trump said........"
October 2015 - Trump isn't going to GUT the EPA, he's going to make it more efficient ..."I'm not cutting services, but I'm cutting spending,", Trump told Wallace...Trump Vows To Cut 'Disgraceful' EPA
No, Ted Cruz Has Not Changed His Position On Ethanol
"Earlier today the internet was littered with bloggers crowing or, alternatively having full grown cows passed down their alimentary canal, over a report that Ted Cruz had caved to the Renewable Fuel Lobby and was suddenly supporting this boondoggle.
Most of you know the background. When Ted Cruz visited Iowa earlier in the year he rejected the mandate that gasoline contain ethanol, the so-called Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), in favor of letting the consumers decide if they wanted to use gasoline cut with ethanol. With the end of RFS, the subsidies that make the boondoggle a lucrative money extraction device for large agribusinesses would also come to an end. Since Cruz has been campaigning in Iowa, he has been dogged by a group owned by ethanol rent-seekers and run by the son of the Iowa governor bitching about how Cruz is threatening their gravy train."....
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Jan 7, 2016:
"....Sen. Ted Cruz in 2013 co-sponsored the "Renewable Fuel Standard Repeal Act," which would immediately repeal the ethanol mandate.
In 2014, he introduced a broad energy bill that would wind down the mandate over five years, slashing the federally mandated volume of renewable fuels (including corn ethanol) by 20 percent every year for five years.
Last night in Cherokee, Iowa, Cruz said again that he believed in "a gradual phaseout" of the mandate over five years. The ethanol lobby group - America's Renewable Future - responded to this by declaring that Cruz had decided to "listen to Iowa farmers."
"During a bus tour stop in Sioux Center, Iowa last night," the group said in a statement, "Senator Ted Cruz expressed support for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) through 2022."
The thing is, while this represents a shift from 2013, it has been Cruz's position since 2014. Cruz's campaign confirmed to me that he still would slash the mandate every year - so that by the end of his first term, mandated levels would be only 1/5th of what they would otherwise be - meaning the mandated levels would drop each year instead of rising each year.
So it was misleading for ARF - and for me - to represent Cruz's comments in Cherokee as a flip-flop.
Unlike other Republican candidates, Cruz wouldn't leave the RFS alone until 2022 (notably, that's in the theoretical second term of the next president), but he would cut it each year of his presidency."..... ... CORRECTED: Cruz still favors slashing ethanol mandate every year for five years
Trump - he'll do what's best for.......well, Trump.
Trump is for sale.
The ethanol volumes that Congress set in 2007 is bad policy.
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"...Corn has long been king in Iowa, the nation's top corn-producing state, implanting in Iowa voters a sentiment that every candidate must cheer Washington's backing for ethanol. Since 2011, though, that universal backing has been eroding.
Congress decided at the end of 2011 not to renew a tax credit that cost the government $6 billion a year. Critics of the government's ethanol policy then set their targets on the ethanol mandate, which requires refineries to blend an increasing amount of biofuels into the U.S. gasoline supply each year..."
It makes so much sense to burn our food supply while decreasing the mileage our cars get while increasing the amount of pollution in the atmosphere, and increase the wear and tear on the engines those cars use. And while we are at why not just destroy small, air-cooled engines for lawn mowers, chainsaws and the like? That’ll really stimulate the economy because people will have to buy more of them to replace the destroyed ones!
Trump is for sale.
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Trump (BLESSED BE HIS NAME) has already sold himself to the special interests, the rent-seekers and the crony capitalists feeding off of subsidies and mandates. Many, in their rapture, are too blinded to see that.
Congress set the policy of higher ethanol volumes in 2007. Blame Congress, not Trump.
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MRadtke: The ethanol volumes that Congress set in 2007 is bad policy.
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One of our cars cannot burn the gas with the higher ethanol mix. It will damage the engine. So we have to be sure of the mix before we pump gas.
Using food for fuel has always seemed counterproductive to me.
People are going to regret voting for this Leftist-with-conservative-leanings.
The Trump advantage: Believe nothing. Say anything to get elected.
I support Trump using ethanol to boost support in Iowa. It’s a brilliant strategy.
Congress already passed it, he just need to say “follow policy.”
It’s becoming clear that Trump will be a crony capitalist, establishment president. The problem is that his campaign is a cult of personality and cultists ignore the warning signs.
I hope enough in Iowa wake up in time.
How about Coal?
It's what you do when you want to win Iowa. This is who the real Donald Trump is.
Trump's copying/borrowing/sharing the Clinton grifter brand.
We produce so much food that if we didn’t find uses for it other than eating it, agricultural commodity prices would collapse and producing food would no longer be a profitable endeavor. It raises the price of food and gasoline but the trade off is a stable and abundant food supply and happy prosperous farmers.
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