Posted on 01/21/2016 2:17:48 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
One of the most destructive environmental subsidies in the United States has found an enthusiastic supporter in Donald Trump.
"The EPA should ensure that biofuel ... blend levels match the statutory level set by Congress," he said yesterday in Iowa, adding that he was "there with you 100 percent" on continuing federal support for ethanol. "You're going to get a really fair shake from me."
The ethanol lobby has rigorously courted Trump since April, arranging to speak at least weekly, including at least three in-person meetings, in addition to an ethanol-plant tour, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Trump's support for ethanol may win him votes in Iowa, but federal support for ethanol is a bum deal for Americans.
Under the 2007 Independence and Security Act, Congress mandated that the United States use 36 billion gallons of biofuels, including corn ethanol and cellulosic biofuel, by 2022.
And the federal government not only requires the use of ethanol; it also subsides it. Tax credits between 1978 and 2012 cost the Treasury as much as $40 billion. Moreover, numerous other federal programs, spanning multiple agencies, allot billions of dollars to ethanol in the form of grants, loan guarantees, tax credits, and other subsidies.
Taxpayers suffer in other ways, too. Vehicles can drive fewer miles per gallon using ethanol blends than they would with pure gasoline. So Americans end up spending an extra $10 billion per year for fuel, the Institute for Energy Research estimates.
Ethanol also guzzles 40 percent of the U.S. corn crop, and the resulting scarcity drives up the price of food. This year alone, the Congressional Budget Office estimated, American consumers will spend $3.5 billion more on groceries because of the ethanol mandate.
Rising prices of corn feed have even put some small feedlots and ranches out of business. And as grocery prices increase, so does federal spending on programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
In a further hallmark of terrible policy, it's probably not even possible for Americans to meet the ambitious ethanol goals Congress and the bureaucrats at the EPA have envisioned.
Ethanol-intensive fuel blends can wreak havoc on car, lawnmower, and boat engines. In fact, many vehicle manufacturers will no longer offer warranties when ethanol comprises 10 percent or more of fuel; engine erosion simply becomes too common.
So, we can't really increase the total amount of ethanol mixed into our gasoline much more, but - especially as vehicles become more fuel efficient - Americans aren't consuming enough gasoline to meet the Renewable Fuel Standards with a 10 percent ethanol blend. The EPA acknowledged this inconvenient mismatch last spring, setting three-year ethanol-use requirements at 3.75 billion gallons below the legal minimums.
Ethanol's green benefit is also far from certain, explaining why even many within the environmentalist Left question - or outright oppose - the federal government's support.
It takes about 29 percent more energy to refine a gallon of ethanol than gasoline, and that process is often fueled by dirty sources like coal. Factor in the emissions generated during this production process, and ethanol sometimes comes in less green than old-fashioned gasoline. On top of that, burning ethanol also emits higher quantities of the chemical compounds that produce smog.
Then again, perhaps it's not surprising that Trump likes federal support of ethanol. After all, the real-estate mogul's business model has historically hinged on using tax abatements and other subsidies to make his building projects profitable.
(An example: As we reported in August, Trump Tower - which features a Gucci store Trump claimed was "worth more money than Romney" - has received a $163.775 million tax break from the city of New York.)
Many of Trump's constituents have rejected the so-called Republican establishment because of its corrupt preferential treatment for Wall Street and Big Business. But Trump's support for ethanol belies his populist Main Street rhetoric. In reality, he's just another rich, East Coast politician who would prop up special interests at the expense of the taxpayer.
-Jillian Kay Melchior writes for National Review as a Thomas L. Rhodes Fellow for the Franklin Center. She is also a senior fellow at the Independent Women's Forum and the Tony Blankley Fellow at the Steamboat Institute.
We’ve entered the twilight zone...
And it’s only beginning! If Cruz falls it will swing even harder left...
nations that produce oil have been investing their petrol profits into our stock market for years. With current oil deflation, oil profits are becoming insufficient to make ends meet.
You are reaping the benefits of a stable food supply just like every other American.
Da, comrade.
Actually, it’s good for America too.
LOL. Sure, I’m a communist for supporting a stable food supply.
Over supply isn’t the same thing as deflation. In addition oil was artificially high because of oil cartels through extortion. Kind of like ethanol... Fracking messed all of that up and now there’s more oil than demand.
My average well on the ranch produces 30 barrels of oil per day and 60 MCF NG, all from an area less than an acre in size.
From the oil they’ll get about 20 gallons of gas and about 9 gallons of diesel per barrel. Or 219,000 gallons of gas and 98,550 gallons of diesel per year. This also includes 21,900 MCF Natural gas.
A bushel of corn produces 2.8 gallons of ethanol and has an average of 142 bushels per acre giving you 397 gallons per acre per year. It would take 799 acres of corn to produce as much liquid fuel as that single well in a year and we still haven’t mentioned the NG.
Why would we even remotely consider corn as fuel source? What level of insanity decided to make it a mandatory source?
In my opinion it has nothing to do with protecting a food source or jobs but it does do a hell of a good job in buying and securing votes, kind of like the CRP program. If I can get you to take my money I have your vote for life! People are so easily bought.
Back to hence, the money is running out that was driving it up. There’s been nowhere else to invest because interest rates are practically zero.
How is that forcing you to buy? Cite an industry not supported by government. You are forced to buy health insurance. See the difference?
Trump’s positions shift like snow in a blizzard. Yes, he is a crony capitalist, but he will say or do anything to get elected.
I am a small farmer.
What we are sadly finding out is that small government conservatism is dead. Us small government free markets types are destined for the wilderness for awhile. We are learning that the so-called conservative base was not so conservative after all. We thought that the base wanted to cut big government down to its constitutional limit, but we were wrong. The new conservative base wanted nothing to do with our Milton Friedman small government free market world. They just want big government to work for them. They want a return to the days of FDR and Harry Truman. Back in the days before the New Left, think Hippies, turned them off from the Democrats. We are finding that the base are not Reagan conservatives but FDR New Dealers. They want big government to do its thing, but still get a tear in their eye when hearing,”Proud To Be An American.” All the efforts to promote free market solutions have been an abject failure. The federal leviathan is destined to keep rolling along for mamy decades to come. Again, us small government types have lost the argument. We might have thought we were winning for a time, but we were wrong.
This is why Cruz’s position is to phase the subsidies.
BTW this should demonstrate why there should be no ethanol industry, it isn’t competitive without government funding.
Think about it, taxpayer money to enrich Archer Daniels Midlands?
Trump wants to double down, imcrease the amount of Ethanol?
Trump doesn’t even see that Government mandates are the problem, he doesn’t get it since he has been sucking at the government’s teat.
Well there’s about 18 gas stations in California that don’t have ethanol in state of 30+ million. So yes I don’t have to buy it... I could get an electric car, a bicycle or walk... What was I thinking...
And as far as healthcare.
No actually I don’t see the difference.
I don’t want to be force to buy healthcare.
In addition what’s really happening is I’m being forced to buy my healthcare and many others healthcare too. Okay, I’m not forced... I could quit my job and collect “free” healthcare...
In what country?
-— Sure, I’m a communist for supporting a stable food supply. -—
What we need is a five-year plan, not a one-year plan.
While I do not disagree with the points you are making on this thread, we still get about a million barrels a day from Saudi and nearly 3 million barrels a day from OPEC.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_ep00_im0_mbblpd_m.htm
And what really kills me is this is the election we could have won if we’d just stuck together. Voters have had enough of Obama and Clinton. We could have seen what a smaller government constitutionalist could have done and how everyone benefits. But we threw it away for the guy that “can win”.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.