NOOOOOO!!!
Posted on 10/08/2018 5:42:03 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
The White House on Monday rolled out a new plan that would allow higher blends of ethanol in vehicle fuels, amid concerns that the change could lead to more air pollution.
The administration’s memo calls to extend the sale of E15 -- consisting of 15 percent of ethanol blended into gasoline -- year round. The fuel was blocked between June 1 and Sept. 15, as science shows burning ethanol in warmer temperature leads to heightened ground-level ozone pollution and smog.
A senior White House official said the plan was part of President Trump’s free market plan.
“This action is basically specifically directed at increasing the supply of biofuels and providing consumer choice and inline with the president's approach to propping up the free market,” the official told reporters on a call.
“The President has repeatedly stated his support of the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) program and thinks it’s good to have domestically created fuel here and think it will be good for the agriculture industry overall.”
Through the memo, the White House will ask the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to formally draft a regulation allowing for the use of E15 year-round. No formal text has yet been provided. The rule will go through a formal comment period, the official said.
An EPA spokesperson said the agency will follow the president’s direction “and proceed as expeditiously as practicable.”
“He is fulfilling his promise by providing clear policy direction that will expand opportunities for our nation’s farmers, provide certainty to our refiners and bolster the United States’ role as a biofuels powerhouse,” the spokesperson said.
But the plan is likely to hit a few major roadblocks. The EPA has concluded as recently as 2011 that it could not allow the use of E15 due to the air pollution restrictions regulated under the Clean Air Act. A number of outside environmentalist groups have additionally vowed to sue over any change to the fuel policy.
While ethanol is a renewable fuel thats increased usage could potentially offset the burning and mining of fossil fuels, a number of studies have found that burning the gas is not any cleaner, and in some instances more harmful.
“The limits exist in the Clean Air Act for a reason. Ethanol blended in gasoline does produce more pollutants that lead to smog than gasoline alone. So by increasing the amount from 10 percent to 15 percent, that breaks those limits that are in the Clean Air Act and could potentially lead to more ozone formation,” said David DeGennaro, agricultural policy specialist for the National Wildlife Federation.
The Senior White House official emphasized that the memo is focused on increasing the biofuel market and “isn’t directly related to climate change.”
The administration’s announcement comes a day after the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released a report that found the world needs to decrease emissions by 45 percent by 2030 or else the atmosphere could hit 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming.
The report was conducted at the behest of negotiators for the Paris climate agreement who asked the IPCC to study what must be done in order to limit climate rise to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial temperatures. The president announced he was pulling the United States out of the agreement last summer.
Trump’s move is championed by corn growers as it would likely expand the market of ethanol but opposed by representatives of the oil and gas industry. Trump made a promise during the Iowa Caucus that he would remove the restrictions on E15. He won the state’s Republican race.
In April, the president signaled that the change was imminent, telling reporters at the White House of gasoline blends, “We’re going to raise it up to 15 percent and raise it to a 12-month period.”
The change would essentially waive E15 from national vapor-pressure requirements under the Clean Air Act.
Additionally, the White House memo will direct EPA to consider other measures to help stabilize and make more transparent the Renewable identification Number (RIN) market.
Currently refiners and importers of natural gas must blend their fuels with ethanol before sales or purchase RINs sold on the market.
The administration’s RIN reform would include requiring public disclosure of RIN, limit the length of time that non refinery or importers can hold a RIN and improve compliance obligations on a more frequent basis.
Last week he promised to ban bump stocks, as well as signing yet another spending bill despite his promise to never sign another one after he signed one a few months ago.
I’m ok with this, because this is not a mandate, this is a free-market removal of restrictions.
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I’m OK with it provided that we get more gas without corn in it to choose from.
Ever wonder how screwballs like Harkin can get elected in a place like Iowa? There you go.
Ethanol is horrible, but it’s not worth jeopardizing Trump’s re-election over it IMHO. It’s a pain, but you can usually find gas without ethanol for small engine equipment if you hunt around. Some will say you can oppose it and still hold the state, but it may be a crucial state next time. Our opposition is just too insane to risk it all over ethanol right now.
No, the pollution is where it is burned in a car.
farm state voters
ethanol is an inefficient smog producing waste of corn
Bad move
NOOOOOO!!!
Nobody is being paid not to grow crops anymore.
Yes, some are subsidized, but as President Trump has pointed out over and over again, farmers have had a very rough 15 years.
Yes.
That ‘waste of corn’ nonsense is something I’ve heard for years and years.
It’s just that, nonsense, he said as he stood beside a mountain of corn.
There are a lot of operations getting 0.5 to >1.0 million$/yr.
There are maps of owners living in Manhattan getting plenty-o-dough.
How Much Energy Does It Take to Make a Gallon of Ethanol?Assuming an average efficiency corn farm and an average efficiency ethanol plant, the total energy used in growing the corn and processing it into ethanol and other products is 81,090 BTUs. Ethanol contains 84,100 BTUs per gallon and the replacement energy value for the other co-products is 27,579 BTUs. Thus, the total energy output is 111,679 BTUs and the net energy gain is 30,589 BTUs for an energy output-input ratio of 1.38:1.
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Analyze this and get back to me:
Trump is draining the swamp in ways it matters, making a few concessions to politics as usual isn't unexpected.
POTUS is wrong on this one
I don’t think that includes the losses between the ethanol plant and the eventual burning in a retail vehicle.
I, and certainly many millions of other people, would love to have free market access to readily available non-ethanol blended gasoline. It currently definitely is not easily found nor is it cheap.
I wonder if there is a market for a system that would remove ethanol from your gas after you pumped it into your tank.
It would be silly, inefficient and complicated but people really don’t want it in their gas and here in Illinois we have almost no choice.
7
It was still happening in 2012. When did it stop?
Biggest beneficiary is Archer Daniels Midlands. Big agobusinees company get the most taxpayer plunder thanks the Bush and Dole. Kind of like 0bama and Soylandra
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