The EPA once again raises its biofuels standards — for biofuels that still do not exist
posted at 7:41 pm on January 31, 2013 by Erika Johnsen
The Environmental Protection Agency’s brazen contempt for free-market economics evidently knows no bounds.
Less than a week ago, the Environmental Protection Agency received a slap on the wrist from a federal appeals court that ruled that the EPA may not force oil companies to pay for an credits for failing to comply with a rule mandating that they incorporate a certain amount of cellulosic biofuels into their product. The EPA estimated that the industry would produce and make available for purchase 8.7 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels in 2012, but the industry only actually produced less than 21,000 gallons — and the court thankfully decided that the EPA could not inflict regulatory punishments based on their wildly enthusiastic and fanciful projections.
You know, government projections? Like how the Obama administration also projected that we’d have positive fourth-quarter economic growth and that ObamaCare would reduce health care costs? How’d that work out for us?
EPA don’t care, because this time — no really, guys, this time — they know what they’re doing.
EPA raised how much cellulosic biofuel — those made from non-edible feedstock — it expected refiners to blend this year as part of the renewable fuel standard.
EPA set the mark at 14 million gallons of cellulosic biofuel, up from about 8.65 million gallons last year. …
“U.S. EPA worked hard to ensure that the cellulosic biofuels volume standard for 2013 would be tied directly to the commercial production of cellulosic biofuels expected to come online this year,” Brooke Coleman, executive director with the Advanced Ethanol Council, said in a Thursday statement. …
“The court recognized the absurdity of fining companies for failing to use a nonexistent biofuel. But EPA wants to nearly double the mandate for the fuel in 2013. This stealth tax on gasoline might be the most egregious example of bad public policy, and consumers could be left to pay the price. EPA needs a serious reality check,” API Downstream Group Director Bob Greco said in a Thursday statement.
In any rational sphere of time and space, the EPA would have lost its authority to mandate private businesses to comply with their fanciful notions of biofuels compliance, especially seeing as how even real greenies say that many biofuels have a net negative effect on the environment. What excuse do they have for making these egregious and expensive policies other than helping out their buddies, Big Ethanol?
The EPA is out of control, and they don’t particularly care who knows it.
In other news, it’s Thursday.
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Oh, and if the Republicans were smart, which they aren’t, they’d be moving to weaken all of these out of control government organizations.
Submit a national sales tax proposal – tied to eliminating the IRS – NOW. Make Obama defend the IRS.
18-1 on May 14, 2013 at 12:42 PM
EPA might be construed as an anti-business agency (as it has become) which just happens to fit in well with a “take down capitalism” agenda, but the left wouldn’t want to do that, would they?
Don L on May 14, 2013 at 12:42 PM
It must be check-the-temperature of the US time, in all seriousness.
Bishop, in the last few days, has been the usual magnificent snarkmeister, but has also posted very serious comments.
Schadenfreude on May 14, 2013 at 12:43 PM
How do they hide the decline now?
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:43 PM
Awwwww.
Well, in a Target Rich environment, fire when ready…..
..shooting Wildly?? No, I think they’re hitting their targets
quite nicely…but thanks for your concern….
ToddPA on May 14, 2013 at 12:43 PM
Yep, you can see the lefty drones cutting and pasting all over the internet.
It is half “conservatives are playing victims” and half “of course they should be investigated and stymied…they oppose the government!!!!”
That those two points are in opposition are no problem for the left…
18-1 on May 14, 2013 at 12:44 PM
What was the scenario when certain owners of auto dealerships were having their dealership yanked and others weren’t?
I believe there was discussion about the nature of the ones getting hammered along these same political lines as well.
Midas on May 14, 2013 at 12:44 PM
There IS a bigger problem coming into view at the moment.
Given the recent news, especially the IRS bit and now the EPA potential problem.
It seems to me that an environment exists in which dumping on conservative or Republican groups is, or has been, an acceptable practice in government agencies. This is wrong. “Equal Protection” comes to mind.
That these agencies acted with such blatant disregard for fairness should raise the hackles of ALL Americans.
Jabberwock on May 14, 2013 at 12:44 PM
No, aiming tornadoes at conservative, flyover country. Of course, they would blame it on global warming, so… you’re right!
Your point? That democracy (really our republic) was adulterated by unconstitutional things like Welfare and Medicare and Social Security? That when the very basis for a republic – a moral, self-sufficient people – was undermined by the left, it would go down the tubes? That the Founding Fathers were right to restrict the power of government because men are inherently corrupt? Sure, I’ll agree with that.
GWB on May 14, 2013 at 12:45 PM
Being kicked off of the campaign plane (later Air Farce One) and locked in the broom closet didn’t bring this revelation to the “reporters”. THey just loved being abused by Barky.
Yep. That was some twisted stuff. Illegal too. Impeachable. But, just one of more than 70 impeachable acts Barky has committed since sliming into office, so no big deal.
As sickening as the NEA propaganda push (which also happened later with BarkyCare and other agencies) was, it came amid all those truly demented public school prayers and pathetic songs to the dog-god Barky, too. Signs of a sick, sick society have been everywhere and always for the past 4+ years.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on May 14, 2013 at 12:45 PM
Well, if Obama loosed the IRS stuff deliberately to deflect from the big Behghazi/arms to rebels story, it would stand to reason thaat his troll army would go soft on defending the IRS deflection.
Don L on May 14, 2013 at 12:45 PM
Have to say the creeping journolista paranoia is highly entertaining to watch…almost as fun as Il Duce’s flop sweat…
workingclass artist on May 14, 2013 at 12:45 PM
*This*
Midas on May 14, 2013 at 12:46 PM
LOL. I forgot all about that White House visitors pack of lies. So long ago. So many scandals ago …
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on May 14, 2013 at 12:46 PM
EPA has also interfered many times since the 80s with private property.There are cases of people who bought cheap land, to build a home and maybe have a small business on their property. Then along the comes the EPA to declare it a wetland or they find some sub-species of a subspecies of ant, and declare development illegal. Instantly, the land is made worthless and the buyers lose their money; no allowance is made for recompense under the Constitution for what is essentially seizure of private property for public use.
Liam on May 14, 2013 at 12:47 PM
Benghazi must be really bad…
d1carter on May 14, 2013 at 12:48 PM
Verbs Out Of Balance
Your take on http://www.wattsupwiththat.com
Climate Change, Global Warming, CO2 killing us all and all that?
As the above big three are the base of most of the EPA rules and regs now is it possible the EPA’s work is basd on lies and fraud?
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:48 PM
Problem is, if that was a strategy, it backfires. The population at large won’t be affected by Libyan terrorists in Benghazi. But here at home, with such a powerful organization as the IRS, the question becomes for everyone, “How close are they watching me?”
Liam on May 14, 2013 at 12:50 PM
Thanks again to all those who stayed home in November because “electing Romney was no better than reelecting Obama.”
cicerone on May 14, 2013 at 12:51 PM
Can’t wait for tomorrow! There has got to be a juicy sex scandal on the horizon.
lynncgb on May 14, 2013 at 12:51 PM
I honestly don’t think they’re trolls. A troll doesn’t believe what he’s saying; he’s just saying it for the reaction.
People are very good at deluding themselves, especially those people who run on emotion rather than logic. That, and an “ends justify the means” mentality can very quickly turn a person into Winston who truly sees five fingers rather than four. When I first read that, in my immaturity, I was rather dismissive of the idea. But it’s true, not that people literally hallucinate, but people compartmentalize and believe contradictory things.
Fenris on May 14, 2013 at 12:52 PM
“But quit picking on my hero.”
davidk on May 14, 2013 at 12:52 PM
With this side,with the other side, with any side…
I don’t believe all of it, and I don’t believe none of it.
I’m selective for sure.
verbaluce on May 14, 2013 at 12:52 PM
If Obama has anything on a national Republican expect it to come out now.
Hell, I expect to hear something about Bush any moment now…
18-1 on May 14, 2013 at 12:52 PM
The EPA is now out in far West Texas oil fields and there is an newly found lizard that must be protected from the new fracking and directional drilling that in fact will save the U.S. from the Oil Ticks price of oil and gas.
The guy who ran the EPA for the area has said he hates the oil and gas companies who drill ect. .
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:53 PM
Probably. But we may never know.
What Federal agencies are left that are candidates for this kind of thing? I would assume that the administration has to get it all out in the open at this point, so the press can wag their tongues. Have a couple resignations or demotions. Then the Republicans can move forward with Immigration and Gun-control.
oldroy on May 14, 2013 at 12:53 PM
verbs out of balance
Are you selective on what web sites you visit, what do you think of http://www.wattsupwiththat.com
??
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Obama’s marching order to his appointees and their subordinates in every agency in the Executive Branch has been to squelch opposition and make life difficult for political opponents. The abuse of power is not found in an agency here and an agency there. The abuse of power has been tacitly if not expressly promoted by the WH throughout the Executive Branch.
Already it’s surfacing in DoJ, EPA, IRS, DoS… Now that the ice is broken, I imagine there’s more to come.
petefrt on May 14, 2013 at 12:54 PM
Plan on the NRA members, or gun joints, to be exposed next. For sure they are a target.
Schadenfreude on May 14, 2013 at 12:55 PM
You gotta get with the program! Things moving waaaaay
faster than that!
Tune in today at 3 pm for the next scandal announcement.
VALERIE JARRET accused of molesting young girls….
Hey, take a look at her…you KNOW it’s true.
ToddPA on May 14, 2013 at 12:55 PM
cat got your fingers verbs out of balance?
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:55 PM
tick tock goes the response clock
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:56 PM
tick
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:57 PM
tock
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:57 PM
That’s a very good point. Many people who ignore principle and logic are driven by self-interest and emotion. And those people are mostly Democrats; Obama would be eating into his base.
Fenris on May 14, 2013 at 12:57 PM
you have the floor, may be face down but you got the floor
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:58 PM
If the obvious would attack, you’d be incapacitated. Find a mirror.
Schadenfreude on May 14, 2013 at 12:58 PM
Facts get in the way for you often Verbs Out of Balance?
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 12:59 PM
In the fight for freedom/liberty, there s/b no selection. YOU missed the big point.
Why a leftist is NEVER liberal, progressive or democratice, never.
You are all tyrannical thugs, who support such. Your day will come. One of us would even save your sorry azzes. We are literally that dumb in our pursuit of freedom and liberty.
Schadenfreude on May 14, 2013 at 1:00 PM
OK,
I will make easy for you Verbs Out of Balance and for U.S..
Has Obama ever lied to the people of the U.S.A.?
It is easy if your rational.
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 1:01 PM
ticks and tocks
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 1:03 PM
Ever watched a kid fess up immediately to stealing candy? If he does, that’s a clue that he’s actually done a lot worse that he’s hiding and is secretly relieved he’s only being charged with the relatively minor transgression.
That’s how I reacted when the Cincinnati office came out and admitted they’d done something wrong and Carney came out and said, “This is serious and we will get to the bottom of this.”
It was all too easy, too glib. Right away I was suspicious there was more to it.
And there is more. The real news is starting to dribble out that Odumbo used the IRS as a broad ideological weapon as if he were still back in Corruptcago. We’ve just seen the tip of the iceberg so far.
(Of course, none of this would be news if Prez hadn’t wiretapped AP. Hell hath no fury, you know.)
Burke on May 14, 2013 at 1:04 PM
This talking point is getting more and more play with the trolls.
It started with some MSM talking head blaming FOXnews’s coverage of Benghazi in September 2012 for the MSM’s failure to investigate and report on the story.
Those darn conservatives just overreach and that make the MSM think there is no story there. So why bother looking into anything those overreaching faux-news sources are looking into. Actual facts and their own naturally suspicious and skeptical natures are no the criteria by which the MSM identifies and newsworthy stories. Whatever FOXnews and conservatives are talking about is automatically placed in the trash basket. No need to actually look at the facts and stuff.
However, they need no facts or evidence to try to tie the Tea Party to any and every nasty bit of news they run across. Unfounded accusations and pure speculation are reported as virtual facts until proven otherwise.
farsighted on May 14, 2013 at 1:05 PM
next Verbs Out of Balance and the rest of the spin Obamas lies trolls will be calling it “swiftboating” Obama.
sad in fact the level of cult they have sunk to
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 1:05 PM
WH/Carney press briefing about to start on C-SPAN
verbaluce on May 14, 2013 at 1:08 PM
gee
Verbs Out Of Balance, all you have to do is follow the commie line and say that watts up with that stole the E-Mails from East Anglian U. and made it all up, that Michael Mann is the gold standard on facts.
Just do it and go to lunch on time.
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 1:09 PM
Of some note: Verbs Out Of Balance, you have been caught in the middle.
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 1:10 PM
I guess Obama being the chief executive doesn’t mean anything to you. And when multiple agencies he is the executive of seem to be all playing from the same playbook that means nothing either I suppose. Especially when, as the chief executive, he appoints everyone in these agencies. Where does the buck stop? And if it is an institutional problem predating this administration, why isn’t the chief executive cleaning house? Incompetence?
willful ignorance: see verbaluce
NotCoach on May 14, 2013 at 1:15 PM
Oh yeah, that’ll clear things up. Maybe they have some artwork to blame this all on.
NotCoach on May 14, 2013 at 1:16 PM
Carney
The gop is politicizing Benghazi
cmsinaz on May 14, 2013 at 1:19 PM
I can’t figure out what the fees are for…you have to pay to get info from the EPA?
PattyJ on May 14, 2013 at 1:19 PM
That’s a lie. If the IRS had not leaked this, in advance of an independent report that is going to expose them, you would not have believed any conservative group publicly claiming such unfair treatment.
NotCoach on May 14, 2013 at 1:20 PM
Equality will happen not when a black man is elected president, but when a black man is expected to be president.
rogerb on May 14, 2013 at 1:21 PM
As long as leftists continue think they are the parents of minorities it will never happen.
NotCoach on May 14, 2013 at 1:29 PM
As I wrote yesterday. This regime is making war on us. Zero is using every ounce of his authority to attack, crush, stop or silence anyone who opposes him.
It’s time something was done about it. He’s turning the US into Venezuela.
dogsoldier on May 14, 2013 at 1:32 PM
So, per Obama’s spoke person he does not need the daily breifing, he just reads the msm hack reports for in information base.
cool guy this
APACHEWHOKNOWS on May 14, 2013 at 1:32 PM
It seems quite possible to me that this is precisely what the Dems intended. Everything they say about anyone else is always projection. So perhaps they went completely overboard (overreached themselves) with illegal activities all over the place fully expecting that if they got caught, they could just claim the “right-wing conspiracy” is overreaching just to cause trouble, and the LSM and the low info voters would follow the line, fully believing their messiah couldn’t possibly really be doing that much wrong – and they would then get away with it all.
dentarthurdent on May 14, 2013 at 1:37 PM
I was thinking the same thing but after you expressed my thought so well I began to think it better.
SparkPlug on May 14, 2013 at 1:42 PM
Can we all say “Chicago on the Potomac?”
catsandbooks on May 14, 2013 at 2:03 PM
If only
Schadenfreude on May 14, 2013 at 2:13 PM
I can see his point. Since its that ambiguous and potentially confusing, then there should no gov’t agency with that acronym. Shut ‘em all down. There, ambiguity and confusion ended. They won’t be missed by the public, which probably didn’t know any but the one EPA even existed at all.
hawkeye54 on May 14, 2013 at 2:36 PM
Been sayin’ that since 2009.
hawkeye54 on May 14, 2013 at 2:36 PM
In late 2009 my factory was paid a visit from OSHA. They didn’t find anything out of the ordinary, but did make me feel a little intimidated when they took pictures of every machine in the building, along with the manufacturer’s plates. They told me that they want to keep the pictures “on file.”
Anyway, as the head investigator was going over everything with me, she noted that one of my employees had a picture at his workstation of a pickup truck with anti-Obama stickers covering the tailgate. I asked her if that was some kind of violation and she told me it was not, but some people might find it offensive. Within in a couple of months after the OSHA visit, I was audited by the IRS and the Department of Labor. Neither found any wrong doing nor did they have any reason to suspect it. In the end, it cost me several thousand dollars in accounting and legal fees.
ReaganWasRight on May 14, 2013 at 2:42 PM
O/T, but not really…
The first rule of dealing with hucksters is to watch what their other hand is doing. While we bask in the glow of cascading revelations of bad stuff, what’s Barky’s other hand doing? What’s the status of immigration? Gun control? The debt? Deals getting made in back rooms between dems and GOPe?
I ask this honestly – it seems that all of it has dropped out of view. These are stone-cold proggies we are dealing with – even while they appear to be fighting off potentially-impeachable threats, don’t think they aren’t still simultaneously trying to advance their agenda in other directions.
bofh on May 14, 2013 at 3:36 PM
Post partisan administration.
mizflame98 on May 14, 2013 at 3:44 PM
Good point.
What is going on with all that?
Mimzey on May 14, 2013 at 6:23 PM
Obama has been at war with Conservative states as well:
http://www.empowertexans.com/blog/issues-obama-administration-expands-war-on-texas/
http://patdollard.com/2011/05/perry-dismayed-that-obama-at-war-with-texas-rejects-emergency-relief-for-border-to-border-fires/
etc.
Obama has an enemies list.
James on May 14, 2013 at 6:57 PM
I really want to know when enough is enough for you.
The friendship Obama has with a domestic terrorist, an admitted one, doesn’t seem to bother you.
The refusal to release any of his previous records for the public doesn’t seem to bother you.
Fast & Furious doesn’t seem to bother you.
Benghazi doesn’t seem to bother you.
This ‘IRS thing’, on the face of things, bothers you slightly. But you’re the 1st to throw your hands in the air with huge shouts of caution.
I don’t seem to recall your concern when conservative strife was happening.
Tell me, did it ever concern you Bill CLinton lied to the American people? Were you one of those people that said it didn’t matter he was diddling (you know: sticking a cigar into a young woman’s wagina) an intern in the White House?
I mean, what does it really take for you progressives to get outraged?
I mean besides your race card mongering.
Or the notion that votes cannot be bought with welfare goodies.
Fast & Furious was enough for impeachment.
Benghazi CERTAINLY is enough to resign honorably over.
Now this IRS etc crap.
I mean seriously, where oes the buck really top with this admin?
Why aren’t you ashamed of the lack of transparency of YOUR guy?
You know: the guy who told everybody how transparent he was going to be when he became POTUS?
Badger40 on May 14, 2013 at 7:19 PM
BTW, all these scandals make Abu Ghraib look like a dance at the cotillion.
Difficultas_Est_Imperium on May 15, 2013 at 10:13 AM
Lets be clear here.
There is one man….one…..that is preventing the construction of a pipeline that has satisfied every government test known to man, provides immediate benefit to the economy through jobs, and will eventually slow the growth of the cost of energy in the US.
One man who is defying the consensus of the people and the government.
That is the definition of a dictator.
BobMbx on May 15, 2013 at 4:53 PM
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