The federal ethanol mandate is the Mother of All Ethanol Boondoggles. The latest federal energy bill dictates that some 9b gallons of ethanol must be blended into gasoline from Sept. 1 to Aug. 31, 2009– whether consumers like it or not. How can the feds "force" the market to swallow all that corn-juice? The Renewable Fuels Standard sets the bar for all 50 states' gas blends; backed-up by the usual threat (loss of federal highway funds). According to The Detroit News, Texas governor Rick Perry has asked the EPA to cut that shit out [paraphrasing]. Perry wants the feds to "temporarily " reduce ethanol requirements to bring down the corn prices bedeviling his rancher friends. Oh, and people who eat. In a phone call with the Gov, EPA Administrator Stephan Johnson laughed, Joker-like at the idea [paraphrasing]. Perry was pissed [for real]. "I am greatly disappointed with the EPA's inability to look past the good intentions of this policy to see the significant harm it is doing to farmers, ranchers and American households," Perry said. "For the EPA to assert that this federal mandate is not affecting food prices not only goes against common sense, but every American's grocery bill." The Texas-sized battle against boondoggery begins.
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It must be noted that Bush EPA head Stephen Johnson is an asshole.
Finally, somebody had the nuts to tell the corn country to piss off. Although it’s gonna be a tough fight; they better get ahold of Chuck Norris.
Heard this news on NPR as my alarm clock woke me up this morning. My first thought: is this the first time I’ve actually agreed with Rick Perry?
I’m in the chorus on this one. The first three posters have it nailed.
I’m a Texan and an Aggie and I have to admit this is one of the extremely rare times I actually agree with Rick Perry.
They are fooling themselves if they think they can win this fight though.
I’m a Texan and an Aggie…
HOWDY AG!!! WHOOP!
Unfortunately, I think you are right. I don’t think he can win this fight, but I’m glad he at least tried.
Just tell me where to get my black market non ethanol blended gasoline.
Don’t get me wrong–E85 production mandates are stupid. But don’t go thinking we’re making so much of the crap that’s killed our corn surplus. It’s a Nixon-era farm subsidy program, totally unsuited for the 21st century, that did that.
Perhaps if we could make gasoline from cows it would be acceptable to Texas?
Heck, making methane from cows is practically a given, so it shouldn’t be too much of a leap.
Here is the problem: We are addicted to government programs.
Ranchers (and some animals) understand that the young must eventually be weaned off of mothers’ milk, or they will not develop and become self-sufficient.
I say let the weaning begin. Start with the ethanol subsidies. Let’s see if the market really will support ethanol.
I’m all for it if it’s supportable without a government crutch. Let’s see if the ethanol industry can figure out how to make ethanol for a net energy gain and not a net energy loss like what happens with current technology.
This is the first round of a 12 round battle royale. Let’s have McCain and Obama weigh in as well. Actually, we already know what McCain thinks. He expressed his views publicly to the farmers in Iowa… in person.
Living in CA is great, but I miss politicians who have the intestinal fortitude to do the right thing. Very much missing in CA.
Rick Perry only cares because it’s in his bank account’s interest (ha) to care.
Orangutan,
I would guess Perry cares because his constituents care. If self interest plays a role, so be it.
You know what?
If corn can be sold for more to fuel producers than food producers and that raises the price of everything from Black Angus to PopTarts – so be it!
We should all have to endure the increased costs of saving the world by using something other than our own oil to fuel our oil-based economy. If that means folks go cold this winter because they can’t afford heating oil or they starve because Pop Tarts go to $7.00 a box. Too Bad! Grow some Snickers. We want Europe to admire us again so we must do our part to become a vast, bankrupt collective just like them.
Thank goodness (can’t say God anymore) N. Pelosi had the Snickers to close congress and go on vacation instead of debating what should be done to help ease high fuel costs. Good for her. Screw the citizens! They should be riding their bicycles more anyway – especially if they need to get to the hospital in a hurry!
America will (pay to) save the world (while the burgeoning economic powerhouses in Asia laugh at our foolishness) And Moscow sells us LukOil!
Vote Obama!
Suffer America – you deserve it!
jkross22 – You must not be familiar with Rick Perry.
Biofuel helps to keep gasoline prices down, so yeah, even if it costs more to fatten pigs, America as a whole benefits.
Whatever helps to give OPEC the finger!
EJ_San_Fran,
Listen, biofuel increases costs significantly across the consumer market basket. Corn and corn syrup are used virtually everywhere. Look at that can of Coke you’re drinking. Heck, look at most processed foods: corn syrup! So it isn’t just about fat Pigs (porcine), it is about what most of America eats (however unfortunate and unhealthy those dietary choices may be): all of those prices increase. That’s inflation that everyone feels – not just pig and cattle farmers.
There are studies that indicate we have more oil in shale deposits in the west than the amount in all of the middle east.
While only a small amount of our oil actually comes from the Middle East, depending on anyone who may or may not be our long-term ally – be they in the Middle East, South America or Russia – is strategically flawed…at best.
If we have the technology to “harvest” our own energy resources and protect the environments from whence that crude comes, it is irresponsible to the nation not to do so while we develop economically feasible energy alternatives.
I want to buy ethanol free gasoline in Philadelphia or South Jersey. Anyone know where I can get it?
Is this proof that one, indeed, CAN mess with Texas?
Nah, just proof that the home of the free and the brave is increasingly run by a socialist ruling class who understand absolutely nothing about generating wealth – only raping it.
I think the public is finally waking up to the degree to which federal ethanol mandates were intended to help the corn farmers and ADM, but very few other people. Not that this translates into political action, but it’s nice to think that it might.
By the way, isn’t is spelled Boondoggle, or is there a joke about Boondoogle that just sailed right over my head?
dgduris :
August 8th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
Nah, just proof that the home of the free and the brave is increasingly run by a socialist ruling class who understand absolutely nothing about generating wealth – only raping it.
You do realize that this statement is as true, if not more so, amoungst the Republicans in Congress and the White House as it amougst Congressional Democrats? As far as I can tell, all Bush did before becoming President was drive several businesses into the ground, get elected to Perry’s current job (a Republican governor in Texas-what a shock), and come out of the correct vagina. The gang of Congressional Republicans is not much better.
Geotpf,
My opinions come predominantly from working with politicians at the state and city level in several 2nd tier cities in the eastern USA…and they are specific to the general breed, not their parties.
My historic observation is that people who have struggled – especially early in life – seem to have a broader understanding of the human condition and value more strongly what individuals can conceptualize and achieve as individuals.
The ruling elite likes us herded as though we are sheep.
Now, if you are dying to vote Bush out of office don’t worry. By law, he’s out in January. He won’t be back in.
…a socialist ruling class…
There’s a contradiction in terms if I ever heard one.
While only a small amount of our oil actually comes from the Middle East, depending on anyone who may or may not be our long-term ally – be they in the Middle East, South America or Russia – is strategically flawed…at best.
Your major oil supplier is Canada, and the free-trade agreement essentially guarantees American access to Canadian oil, not that Canada isn’t essentially a client state of the US anyway.
Look, ethanol-from-corn is stupid regardless of your political stripe. It’s either barely, or not at all, net-energy-positive, which means it takes more energy to make it than it gives as a fuel. And guess what, that means that you still need to import energy to make it, since the US is not a net energy exporter regardless of where the energy to make ethanol originates (electricity is bought mostly from Canada, uranium: ditto, non-oil fossil fuels from all sorts of places).
If you’re a right-winger and want energy independence, use less. If you’re a left-wingers and want to help the environment, use less. Playing a shell game with energy sources is just fooling yourself.
Using less doesn’t have to mean cutting lifestyle (much), either, it just means using what you have more effectively. Smarter building construction, geothermal heating/cooling, hybrid/electric drivetrains that recapture lost energy, more efficient powertrains, less mass, home automation, telecommuting, etc, etc. The list goes on, and unlike ethanol, hydrogen or drilling for more oil, it’s a solution on the path to sustainability, not a delay of game or PR exercise.
Maybe a better idea would be to set aside Southwest land deemed marginal for growing food and use it to grow fields of mesquite and prickly pear which are good sources of ethanol.
I am not sure what study says that ethanol is a net-energy-negative substance, but that study would need to be more critically examined.
I have heard of a study on ethanol’s EROEI (energy returned on energy invested), by Isaias de Carvalho Macedo, that showed an alcohol energy return of more than eight units of output for every unit of input.
Using the energy returned on fossil fuel input measure, the energy returned from alcohol fuel per fossil energy input is much higher. And in a system that would receive almost all of its energy from biomass, the return would probably be even higher.
I agree that the U.S. should use less gasoline for automobiles. We also need cars designed to more efficiently run on ethanol. This could be accomplished with higher compression engines, turbochargers, and ECM/cold-weather adjustments. Until then E-85 is the best compromise.
psarhjinian,
“‘…a socialist ruling class…’ There’s a contradiction in terms if I ever heard one.”
You would describe the Soviets as…?
Re. corn: this is not about politics – it is about the physics of energy: something that these idiot pols cannot change, regardless of what laws they pass. The challenge is to find the best solution to provide the most energy for the lowest price/ environmental damage. Period.
Any product which takes more energy to process than it returns as fuel isn’t giving the finger to OPEC, it is jamming that finger in our own eye and, in the case of corn, raising food prices as we do so. So the net is like a finger in each eye. For that idiocy, I’ll watch the 3 Stooges…because the millionaire Pelosi is becoming a bore.
25 years from now, we should be getting most of our energy from the endless action of the ocean’s waves. That’s pretty simple to figure out because the wind doesn’t always blow (except down Wacker Drive, headed out towards the lake).
The challenge is simply: how do we spend the next 25 years getting there and not bankrupting America over energy costs along the way.
(Sorry, RF I am not bright enough to figure out the XML thing. RD)
Even E10 is a total waste of time, resources and an even bigger boondoggle than E85, because it’s forced on many more people.
Just drove my wife’s 2008 Hyundai Sonata 2.4 (4 cylinder automatic) car 4999.8 miles on our big once-in-a-lifetime visit from northern Michigan, to the Alberta Rockies in Canada, and home through the US. Drove north, crossed the big Mac bridge into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, drove straight to Sault Ste Marie, into Canada, turned left and drove for 4 days to get there.
Just as (yet another) example of ethanol’s stupidity, I’ll share my numbers crunched this morning from our trip.
4999.8 miles, 158.1 gallons = 31.6 mpg (not bad for a full sized car, huh?)
The E10 I had to buy in Canada (except when I finally got fed up and popped for Premium once) netted figures as follows:
2823.2 miles, 91.59 gallons = 30.8 mpg.
The pure gasoline I could buy netted me this:
2176.6 miles, 66.52 gallons = 32.7 mpg.
That’s a 6.2% MPG improvement using pure gasoline compared to E10, which is obviously 10% ethanol.
Best E10 mpg was 36.6 (9.5 gallon fill), worse was 25.1 (5.8 gallon fill). The 36.6 was in a 90 km/hr (56 mph) section of northern Ontario. The 25.1 included some stop & go.
Best gasoline mpg was 34.5 mpg (7.7 gallon fill), worse was 28.4 mpg (9.5 gallon fill).
Now, figure in the additional costs of E10. The ethanol must be TRUCKED – can’t be sent via pipeline. That takes (guess what) DIESEL OIL. Food costs have gone up. We, US taxpayers, are forced to subsidize the cost per gallon of every bit of E10 by 71 cents per gallon. E10 is mandated in several states, including Minnesota, and the Federal Government is forcing it in so-called high pollution areas, meaning most big cities.
Overall, ethanol as motor fuel is the dumbest idea that ever came down the pike. Hence, our politicians love it. Which says a lot about our politicians.
BTW, in EVERY car I’ve ever tested since 1979, I’ve obtained about 7% (OK, now it’s 6.2%) to 25% less efficiency using E10. My Prius HATES E10, and now I’m down to ONE gas station a few miles out of my way which sells pure gasoline in my area, and I’m not in a mandated E10 area.
Overall, ethanol as motor fuel is the dumbest idea that ever came down the pike. Hence, our politicians love it. Which says a lot about our politicians.
And what does it say about the people who elect these politicians and so easily fall for a scam like ethanol or AGW.
Winston Churchill
“The best argument against democracy is a ten minute conversation with the average voter.”
In America, we don’t educate, we buy figuring that if we don’t like what we bought, we’ll throw it out… we’re a disposable society (pun intended).
That’s how a guy with no record of achievement, no history that points to a new style of governing, nothing, in fact, but a photogenic face can be nominated to the highest office in the land.
I think, though, that a ten minute conversation about facts, history and guiding philosophy with the average voter would have their common sense dictate which lever to pull when voting…actually, for any office in the land.
Filthier emissions, less gas mileage, damaging to fuel systems, higher food prices, sure am glad big gubment can do my thinking for me!