Priorities.

The Obama administration has rarely passed up an opportunity to continue their relentless subsidization of the biofuels industry — the EPA has lately been particularly defensive about their requirement that fuel producers mix part of their product with certain non-existent cellulosic biofuels, to several lawmakers’ chagrin — and the Obama administration even has the Pentagon [...]

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Finally.

Ah, the Renewable Fuel Standard. What can I say about the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires fuel producers to blend a certain amount of biofuels into their product? That its existence inflates an artificial market for a product consumers don’t really want to buy? That its corn-based components drive up food prices at home and [...]

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Terrific.

It is perfectly true that there are a bunch of factors that together determine the prices we pay at the pump — oil is supplied, bought, and sold in a very global market, after all — and that the federal government doesn’t always have the ability to impact those factors. That said, there are also [...]

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RIN trading

Filed under the “we hate when we turn out to be right” category, domestic energy producers are facing some tough choices in the coming months thanks for a one – two punch of ethanol and government regulations. A combination of the drought this summer wiping out a fair portion of the corn crop and an [...]

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Or, you know... not.

Spare us, can’t you? Because it would be really great if we could all just stop pretending that the federal government’s protestations of love for biofuels is about anything other than keeping their BFFs, Big Ethanol, happy. Looking at you, Vilsack. The ethanol industry is again being threatened and U.S. Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack is [...]

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Because, unicorns.

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 [...]

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It's gettin' real.

Last week, a federal appeals court informed the Environmental Protection Agency that, no actually, the EPA may not punish oil companies for failing to comply with the Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates that they blend a certain amount of advanced cellulosic biofuels into their product — seeing as how those cellulosic biofuels aren’t actually available [...]

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Realistic expectations.

The Environmental Protection Agency is getting taken to court left and right for their many overzealous regulations and intrusions into private industry, with varying results– but on Friday, U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled that, why no, the EPA may not punish the oil industry for their noncompliance with the EPA’s lofty [...]

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Protect the fleet

Back in August we told you about the courts rejecting a challenge to an EPA mandate to start using 15% ethanol blends in fuels. The industry said we weren’t ready for it, consumer guides were nervous and the testing pointed to likely problems to come. Naysayers claimed that the tests were being done by partisan [...]

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What does the Obama administration have against farmers?

I’m not even going to get started on the vast — vast, I say — number of federal policies whose justification for existence is that they help protect small family farmers and/or the environment, when in fact, they accomplish precisely the opposite. For now, I’ll just pick the one — the Renewable Fuel Standard, which [...]

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Er... no.

It’s good to see people coming together to help out the victims of Superstorm Sandy. Donations have poured in and first responders have pulled life from the wreckage. Folks from further afield are offering their help as well. Case in point: the ethanol lobby is sure that things will be just peachy on Staten Island [...]

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Moo to you

Earlier this year we talked about the failure of the courts to knock down the increasing demands of this administration for more ethanol in gasoline. (And Erika followed up on it last month.) In addition to the risk of damage to the current fleet of vehicles, these policies have also been driving up the cost [...]

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Stuck on stupid.

Because we apparently don’t have enough evidence of the adverse effects of forcing biofuels into the energy market by requiring traditional transportation fuel suppliers to purchase them, the Obama administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has decreed — oh no, not that they’re going to scale back on the renewable fuel standard biofuels quota — but rather [...]

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Business as usual

If not predictable, this is certainly disappointing. A federal appeals court Friday threw out a challenge by automakers and other groups to a new fuel with a higher blend of ethanol that could damage engines. The U.S. Court of Appeals in a 2-1 decision rejected a suit brought by Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Global Automakers, [...]

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Corn to burn... on the taxpayer dime

Not too long ago, we took a look at the effect the drought is having on the nation’s farmers, particularly those producing corn. The situation isn’t improving, as is being widely reported, and the farmers are in dire straights. Prices are rising for not only corn for the dinner table, but all the other products [...]

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Guess who's picking up the tab?

It’s not going to come as a surprise to anyone who has stepped outside this summer, but the drought engulfing most of our major farmlands is hitting epic proportions. In fact, the USDA has again downgraded the nation’s corn crop, saying that only 26% of it is in “good” or “excellent” shape. This is bad [...]

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Good riddance.

House Republicans are looking to eliminate government funding for the biofuels industry through the farm bill — and it feels so good. I am always pleased when any federally subsidized product, service, or industry is finally forced to face the music and compete in the free market based on its meritorious profitability rather than its [...]

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Corny. But not in a funny way.

In yet another example of talking out of both sides of their mouths, the Obama administration is facing criticism for pushing biofuels in the form of an E-15 fuel approval for the EPA while raising barriers to domestic, conventional fuel exploration initiatives. The major problems of the pending E-15 approval were pointed out this week [...]

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"Start unwinding the federal government's bad investment in electric vehicles..."

Conservatives managed two quiet wins in their first year of controlling the House, although it took the Washington Post to notice both of them.  After 30 years of federal subsidies for corn-based ethanol, Congress finally put an end to the program by refusing to renew the “green” energy technology program, which the Post notes did [...]

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Gutsy call.

Ed touched on this earlier, I know, but it deserves a post of its own. Man, if the “boring” candidate in the race is willing to be this bold in front of the hometown crowd, I can’t imagine what the “exciting” candidates will do. The early read on this move is that it’s a smart [...]

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