Legislative
« Previous EntriesThe Ethanol Election Issue
Monday, October 6th, 2008
Canada Free Press:
The issue of the nation’s financial and economic security is likely to dominate the November 4 election. Earlier in the campaign cycle we might have assumed that foreign affairs and energy would be uppermost on the minds of voters, but we’re told that, ultimately, voters vote their pocketbooks.
One place they most […]
Ethanol And Abortion
Monday, October 6th, 2008Columbia Daily Tribune:
Maybe you think I’ve lost my mind, linking ethanol and abortion, but I do have a point, to wit: Sometimes we oversimplify our contentions about controversial subjects. Sometimes in the heat of battle we fail to recognize nuances that can make all the difference.
Thus, as this column and others criticize ethanol, we use […]
Ethanol Industry Reacts To Mandate Plank
Monday, September 8th, 2008KELOLAND TV:
While many South Dakotans are cheering the launching of the McCain-Palin ticket during this week’s Republican National Convention, it’s the “other” business of the convention that has upset the state’s ethanol industry. A plank in the Republican Party’s national platform calls for doing away with the renewable fuel standard for ethanol.
The so-called “ethanol mandate” […]
Ag Secretary Says Ethanol Mandate Benefits Far Outweigh Negatives
Friday, August 29th, 2008Farm Futures:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) decision not to cut the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) by half was a “watershed decision for the United States of America,” said Secretary of Agriculture Ed Schafer during a tour of the Farm Progress Show held in Boone, Iowa.
Schafer made the remarks as the show, held for the first […]
Irrational Policy: Ethanol Rules Are All About Politics
Wednesday, August 13th, 2008Houston Chronicle:
Few government programs have had more unintended and damaging consequences than subsidies for corn-based ethanol and mandates for its use as a motor fuel. Unfortunately, the leadership of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, largely indifferent to environmental protection in recent years, seems blind to the harm the ethanol mandate is causing.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry […]
Energy Subsidy Dreams
Monday, August 11th, 2008Washington Post:
It seems every candidate has his favorite energy subsidy. Or two.
Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has favored setting a minimum goal of 60 billion gallons for ethanol of all kinds, derived from corn and cellulosic materials such as grasses or wood chips. That’s twice the current target for an industry which has thrived largely […]
Come One, Come All To The Energy Party!
Wednesday, July 30th, 2008Mother Proof:
President Bush recently lifted an executive ban that restricted offshore oil drilling, but the move won’t affect gas prices unless Congress lifts its ban as well, according to the Associated Press. Bush says he’s trying to ease market tensions and boost oil supplies, but Congress hasn’t jumped on board yet.
Both the executive and […]
Ethanol Not As Good For The Country As Thought
Monday, July 14th, 2008Fort Worth Business Press:
Poor old ethanol has taken quite a beating lately. Amazing what can happen when prices of a commodity rise rapidly. Not too long ago it seems like every politician from sea to shining sea touted ethanol as the savior to our transportation fuel woes.
Now, that corn – the primary ingredient in U.S. […]
Food Groups Urge Bush To Suspend Sugar-Ethanol Tariff
Thursday, July 3rd, 2008The Hill:
An assortment of food groups, from soft drink makers to chicken producers, urged President Bush to suspend an import tariff on Brazilian sugarcane ethanol as a way to reduce demand for the corn-based variety produced domestically.
The competition for corn is increasing due to higher ethanol production requirements mandated by Congress in the 2007 Energy […]
From Prayers To Ethanol, Events Prove Times Are Still A-Changin’
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008MinnPost.com:
Remember when it was OK for Catholics to pray with gays and lesbians? When communities thought they were going to receive a bigger taste of state aid? When ethanol was the answer to all our energy needs? When a bus ride was two bits, or even $1.50? When there was a gate across Rice […]
McCain Proposes A $300 Million Prize For A Next-Generation Car Battery
Wednesday, June 25th, 2008New York Times:
In the 18th century the British offered a £20,000 prize to anyone who figured out how to calculate longitude. More recently, Netflix offered a million dollars for improving movie recommendations on its Web site. Now Senator John McCain is suggesting a new national prize: He said here Monday that if elected president he […]
Campaigns Clash Over Ethanol
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008And here’s another kernel related to corn: Ethanol subsidies.
Both John McCain and Barack Obama say they’re looking for ways to wean the U.S. off of foreign oil, but they have their differences when it comes to ethanol.
Marketplace:
Ethanol has been pushed front and center in this campaign because of soaring gas and corn prices.
Nancy Marshall Genzer: […]
Obama’s Campaign Closely Linked With Ethanol
Monday, June 23rd, 2008New York Times:
When VeraSun Energy inaugurated a new ethanol processing plant last summer in Charles City, Iowa, some of that industry’s most prominent boosters showed up. Leaders of the National Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association, for instance, came to help cut the ribbon - and so did Senator Barack Obama.
Then running far […]
The High Cost Of Ethanol Subsidies
Friday, June 20th, 2008NewsByUs:
An Indian government official recently criticized the Bush administration for blaming the growing middle classes of developing countries, such as India and China, for rising food prices.
Although he may have misinterpreted the president’s remarks, his and other Indian critics’ responses are worth thinking about. They argue that the United States is the real culprit behind […]
Political Choices On Oil Put Americans Over A Barrel
Monday, June 9th, 2008Boston Herald:
Rising in the Senate on May 13, Chuck Schumer, the New York Democrat, explained: “I rise to discuss rising energy prices.” The president was heading to Saudi Arabia to seek an increase in its oil production, and Schumer’s gorge was rising.
Saudi Arabia, he said, “holds the key to reducing gasoline prices at home in […]
Administration Allies Strike Against Ethanol Critics
Wednesday, May 21st, 2008Friends of the White House are lashing back against an anti-ethanol campaign.
MarketWatch:
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer defended ethanol at a press event Monday, saying that developing diversity in the U.S. portfolio of fuel is central to security. In response to recent reports that the Grocery Manufacturers Association paid a public-relations firm to campaign against ethanol, Schafer […]
Ethanol Producers Come Under Fire In Congress
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008Minnesota Public Radio:
The growing backlash against ethanol arrived today at the U.S. House. Ethanol consumes about one-fifth of the U.S. corn harvest. And some groups blame ethanol for pushing up food prices.
One proposal before Congress would roll back a federal law requiring additional ethanol production. Opponents of that idea say it would hurt the […]
Politicians Rethink Food-Based Ethanol
Wednesday, May 7th, 2008Christian Science Monitor:
Not too long ago, corn ethanol was being touted as the energy wave of the future for fighting global warming. It was said to be much better than coal and oil, those carbon-based sources of greenhouse-gas emissions.
But lately the drawbacks to this form of energy production have become more obvious, its critics […]
Lawmakers Revisit Ethanol Mandates As Prices Soar
Friday, May 2nd, 2008NPR:
Four months ago, Congress sharply raised production targets for ethanol fuel, from the current 7 billion gallons a year to 36 billion gallons by 2022. Now, some lawmakers are asking whether the ethanol mandates come at too high a price.
The mandated, subsidized biofuel uses corn as its main feedstock. Last year’s production required a quarter […]
The Fed’s Golden Opportunity
Thursday, April 24th, 2008CNNMoney:
The soaring price of crude oil isn’t good for most people, but it could spell opportunity for Ben Bernanke.
The Fed chief’s inflation-fighting credentials have been in doubt since he said in a 2002 speech that central banks could prevent deflation by dropping money out of a helicopter.
Since then, Bernanke’s critics have only been emboldened […]
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