Free Republic

I am not a fan of ethanol. Because I work in the automotive industry, I have firsthand experience with the effects it has on engines, both small and large. You can read about those effects at this link. The effects I have written about before are all associated with the engines themselves. What I have not focused on before is the effect ethanol has on the environment. I was surprised to see an investigative report from the Associated Press earlier in the week that did just that. I just haven't had the time to write about it until now. When...

With two words, the U.S. environment regulator may be handing oil refiners the biggest win of a long battle to beat back the seemingly inexorable rise of ethanol fuel. In a leaked proposal that would significantly scale back biofuel blending requirements next year, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) says the blend wall - the 10 percent threshold of ethanol-mixed gasoline that is at the crux of the lobbying war - is an "important reality". The agency's rationale for a cut in the volume of ethanol that must be blended echoes an argument the oil industry has been making for...

Briggs & Stratton Co. has never liked ethanol because it can make a mess of things at the worst possible time -- like when you need to cut the grass and your lawn mower spits, sputters and just won't start. Often, water in the gasoline is the culprit, according to Briggs, the world's largest manufacturer of small gasoline engines. And the company says the biofuel additive ethanol, which is contained in most of the gasoline people buy today, can attract moisture out of the air like steel sticks to a magnet. Moisture in gasoline is a big problem for boats,...

The Iowa corn growers association released a report card today, rating Republican primary candidates on their support of "corn grower's legislative priorities." Candidates who oppose subsidies, like Representative Ron Paul and Herman Cain got "D." grades (Only their criticism of the EPA spared them "F"s. Former Speaker Newt Gingrich got the highest grade. He and President Obama were praised for their support of economically disastrous policies like ethanol subsidies.

The ethanol mandates are one of the most regressive socialist interventions into the free market that have been peddled by the progressives. [Here is our editorial on the costs of ethanol]  Unfortunately, many Republicans, red state ones at that, are signing onto the extension of these backdoor taxes on food and fuel.  6 Republicans joined seven Democrats in penning a letter to Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell demanding that the subsidies be renewed before the end of this congress.  Here is a list of the Republicans who signed the letter together with their socialist compatriots. Chuck Grassley Kit Bond Sam...

Folks, there has been much misinformation published about energy subsidies. In fact gasoline is subsidized at around 3 times the rate of ethanol, but accurate information is hard to find. Most gasoline subsidies are permanent while ethanol subsidies have to be renewed annually. This is why ethanol subsidies gets all the ink while much larger gasoline subsidies are ignored Here is a PDF, published this year, that tells it like it is.

Plans to make European motorists use more biofuels could take an area the size of Ireland out of food production by 2020 and accelerate climate change, a study has found. The report by the independent Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) is based on plans that countries have submitted to the EU detailing how they intend to meet their legal requirement to include 10% of renewable energy in all transport fuels by 2020. IEEP calculations suggest that the indirect effect of the switch will be to take between 4.1m and 6.9m hectares out of food production. In addition, say the...

Earlier this year, the Environmental Protection Agency issued another one of those announcements read exclusively by government bureaucrats and green policy wonks. The EPA decided to delay a decision to increase the concentration of ethanol legal in gasoline from 10% to 15%. So-called E15 fuel would have to wait for approval until November. It was a little-read regulatory decision that barely made a splash in the media. But it was also a rock thrown at Washington's hornets' nest of food and agricultural lobbyists. "We are disappointed," warned food giant Archer Daniels Midland. "We find this further delay unacceptable" and a...

The week of August 2 the U.S. Senate is scheduled to begin debate on a new comprehensive energy bill introduced by majority leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada). Senators Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Richard Lugar (R-Indiana) have offered an amendment that is being strongly endorsed by corn growers and other ethanol supporters. The Harkin-Lugar amendment would: Mandate the production of flex fuel vehicles by requiring all new cars and trucks sold in the U.S. be flex fuel, Require the installation of blender pumps nationwide to dispense mid- and high-level ethanol blends, Create a federal loan guarantee program for pipelines to carry ethanol...

A new report says Minnesota's ethanol industry generated more than $2.5 billion in economic activity in 2009 and supported more than 6,800 jobs. The annual report from the Minnesota Department of Agriculture says ethanol production in the state increased to 862 million gallons in 2009 from 550 million gallons five years ago. It estimates production will increase to 1.1 billion gallons this year with an economic impact of $3.1 billion and around 1,500 additional jobs.

Donning FDR's cape, Eisenhower's stripes and JFK's boat shoes, President Obama observed in Florida on Tuesday that his "clean energy economy" will require "mobilization" on the order of fighting World War II, building the interstate highway system and going to the moon. Of course, the only "mobilization" going on at the moment is on behalf of ethanol, whose many political dispensations the biofuels lobby is finding new ways to preserve even as the evidence of its destructiveness piles up. The latest embarrassment arrives via the peer-reviewed journal Science, not known for its right-wing inclinations. A new paper calls attention to...