Free Republic

Part of the job of the Environmental Protection Agency is clearly to promote their own policies and demonstrate to the American people how they are working to benefit the nation. (That is, when they’re not busy wasting massive amounts of money and polluting river systems.) But there’s a fine line to be walked between educating the public on the issues and blatant politicking to benefit the party currently controlling the White House. One of the agency’s spokespeople, Janet McCabe (Administrator for the Office of Air and Radiation) seems to have clearly and flagrantly stepped over that line this weekend. In...

If you’re like most Americans, you’re enjoying the fact that it costs a lot less to fill up your car’s gas tank these days. If you’re a fan of big government, you may feel a bit ambivalent, though. Why? Because one of the biggest drivers behind the drop in gas prices is the rise in directional drilling and hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) here at home. While the government is busy micromanaging the energy industry — trying to saddle it with more regulations while showering favors on so-called “green” companies — the free market is showing how to actually get things done....

The Hill reports the Environmental Agency (EPA) has delayed its Renewable Fuel Standard compliance deadline for a second time and noted that its 2014 rulemaking “has been more time consuming than originally anticipated, involving over 300,000 comments”: Petroleum companies will get a breather from latest round of renewable fuel standard, as the Environmental Protection Agnecy (EPA) is once again delaying the deadline for compliance with the 2013 standards. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a program started under the Bush administration that requires that increasing amounts of renewable fuels that emit lower levels of greenhouse gases be mixed with gas...

The word “gasoline” no longer characterizes the stuff we put into our cars. Owing to regulations forced on the refining industry, “Frankenol” might be more accurate. This government-engineered, market-distorting fuel is a blend of 90 percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol (E10). Originally conceived to breathe life into the fledgling U.S. ethanol industry and reduce our dependence on foreign oil, continued tinkering with the renewable fuel standard (RFS) has turned the program into a nightmare. The RFS requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into the nation’s fuel pool annually. Last year, they were responsible for blending a minimum...

Energy: In yet another green folly, the lawless Environmental Protection Agency continues to fine gasoline producers for not using cellulosic biofuels in quantities that don't exist, making only more pain at the pump. Last month, a federal court dealt a serious blow to the Environmental Protection Agency's renewable fuels push by ruling that the agency exceeded its authority by mandating refiners use cellulosic biofuels, which aren't commercially available. The EPA's lawless response in a lawless administration was to raise its requirements. In 2005 and 2007, Congress twice amended the Clean Air Act to establish a renewable fuel standard (RFS) that...

Enlarge Image Legal fuel. A federal court has struck down portions of a U.S. law mandating the use of cellulosic ethanol, made from woody plants such as this switchgrass grown in Texas. Credit: Warren Gretz/NREL A federal appeals court on Friday struck down a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate requiring millions of gallons of cellulosic ethanol be blended into gasoline by petroleum refineries. The ruling is seen as a partial victory for the American Petroleum Institute (API), which challenged the mandate arguing that EPA was requiring refiners to use a fuel that was not commercially available or face...

The Obama administration on Friday rebuffed requests by Texas Gov. Rick Perry and the leaders of several other states to waive a federal renewable fuel mandate that requires ethanol to be blended into the nation's gasoline supply. In rejecting the waiver requests, the Environmental Protection Agency effectively disagreed with the states' concerns that the mandate was spiking corn demand and prices following a drought that devastated crops in the Midwest. The EPA concluded the Renewable Fuel Standard would not cause "severe economic harm" to states and regions. "We recognize that this year's drought has created hardship in some sectors of...