by Marlo Lewis
December 11, 2007 @ 12:09 pm
I attach below Sen. Domenici’s remarks for those who can’t get enough bombast about the glories of mandates. Three points jump out at me.
First, Domenici inconsistently condemns the House bill’s tax increases and renewable portfolio standard (RPS) while advocating a 36-billion gallon renewable fuel standard (RFS). Doesn’t he realize that an RPS is just an RFS for electricity? Can’t he see that they are both Soviet-style production quotas? Sen. Domenici complains that the House energy bill includes tax hikes; doesn’t…
Read the full story
by Marlo Lewis
December 05, 2007 @ 12:28 pm
Ethanolics claim that ethanol mandates are “good for farmers.” As FactsAboutEthanol has noted many times, ethanol mandates raise production costs for farmers who use corn as a feedstock.
Today the Cattlemen’s Beef Association issued a letter urging Congress to vote against H.R. 6, the House energy bill, because ”the impact of a 15 billion gallon RFS [renewable fuel standard] for feedgrain based ethanol could deal a serious blow to cattlemen if the United States experiences anything short of a U.S. corn crop year after year.”
The letter spotlights several…
Read the full story
by GasMan
September 14, 2007 @ 5:52 pm
ST. LOUIS (AP)–As a chief advocate for corn farmers around the U.S., Rob Litterer will be working the halls of Congress this fall to push for increased ethanol production. But he’s facing stiff opposition from what on the surface seems an unlikely source - the farm lobby.
The burgeoning ethanol industry is creating a wave of prosperity for rural towns throughout the Midwest, but the energy bonanza is also pitting farming groups on separate sides of the fence.
Corn farmers are pushing…
Read the full story
by Marlo Lewis
June 29, 2007 @ 10:50 am
Commentary
Timothy P. Carney: Big Ethanol wins big on CAFE
The Examiner
2007-06-29
WASHINGTON -
While U.S. automakers have attracted media attention this summer with their furious campaign to block stricter federal requirements on fuel efficiency, the businesses that stand to gain from heightened federal regulation have stayed below the radar.
Primarily, the ethanol industry - already profiting from a smorgasbord of federal and state subsidies and mandates - will likely find riches in the more stringent Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards being adopted in…
Read the full story
by Marlo Lewis
May 22, 2007 @ 11:37 am
Reuters (May 21, 2007) reports that the House Agriculture Committee is considering a bioenergy package that would authorize a total of $4.5 billion for biomass research and loan guarantees to biofacilities through fiscal 2012. The package proposes $2 billion in loans and guarantees to construct at least 14 ethanol plants.
These are big facilities. According to the article, the package would “allow $1 billion for projects costing up to $100 million each and $1 billion for projects costing $100 million to $250…
Read the full story
by GasMan
May 21, 2007 @ 3:19 pm
Bush biofuel initiative may be unrealistic, producers say
By John Gregerson on 5/21/2007 for Meatingplace.com
Leading producers of ethanol and biodiesel said Friday their industries are facing serious barriers to meeting the 2017 growth targets outlined last week by President Bush, Dow Jones reported.
The Bush plan includes a goal to produce 35 billion gallons of renewable and alternative fuel by 2017, many times above current levels.
“The current solutions won’t get you there,” Jeff Trucksess, executive vice president of Green Earth Fuels…
Read the full story
by Marlo Lewis
February 01, 2007 @ 1:27 pm
US House Committee oks Bill to Promote Biofuels
Story by Tom Doggett, Reuters News Service, February 1, 2007
WASHINGTON - The House Science and Technology Committee approved legislation on Wednesday to promote the development of alternative biofuels and create the infrastructure to handle the supplies.
Read the full story
by Marlo Lewis
January 26, 2007 @ 5:26 pm
I post this article, despite its breathless credulity about the imminence of a world beyond petroleum, because it reveals how Washington works. Bush and the corn lobby will ask Congress for a biofuels mandate that drives up the cost of gasoline. Congress and the Big Three will ask Bush for tax credits to sell more cars that use the more costly fuel.
Read the full story
by GasMan
December 13, 2006 @ 7:53 pm
The soon-to-be Chairman of the Senate Agriculture and the Secretary of the Department of Agriculture agree that energy policy and ethanol are the “engine” - but they can’t agree whether it is pulling the farm bill or pushing the farm bill.
Silly semantics? Maybe.
Probably, however, a more profound metaphor for how out of hand ethanol policy has gotten. It is the “tail” that is “wagging the dog,” if you’ll excuse another metaphor, …
From the wires: Incoming Senate Agriculture Chairman Harkin and…
Read the full story
by GasMan
October 10, 2006 @ 10:56 pm
A written statement presented to the House Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Nutrition includes this line:
…we are concerned that in the rush to produce biofuels crops, we may inadvertently sacrifice many of the natural resource conservation victories achieved over the past two decades.
Who is “we?”
”We” is the following coalition, … AMERICAN SPORTFISHING ASSOCIATION, ASSOCIATION OF FISH & WILDLIFE AGENCIES, BASS/ESPN OUTDOORS, BEAR TRUST, BERKLEY CONSERVATION INSTITUTE, CAMPFIRE CLUB OF AMERICA, DUCKS UNLIMITED, IZAAK WALTON LEAGUE OF AMERICA, NATIONAL WILD TURKEY FEDERATION,…
Read the full story
