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Sunday, May 22, 2016

EPA Wants Higher Ethanol Mandate

EPA DROPS NEW RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Wednesday rolled out its proposed blending mandates for ethanol and other biofuels, and both sides in the debate are displeased.

Under the Wednesday plan, 18.8 billion gallons of biofuels would have to be blended into the nation's gasoline and diesel, and 14.8 billion gallons could be ethanol.

And while the total volume is 700 million gallons above this year and the ethanol volume is up 300 million gallons, the totals aren't what Congress wrote into the law in 2007.

Instead, the EPA is proposing to use a waiver authority written into the law, citing factors like a lower than expected demand for gasoline and diesel.

"This administration is committed to keeping the [renewable fuels standard] program on track, spurring continued growth in biofuel production and use, and achieving the climate and energy independence benefits that Congress envisioned from this program," Janet McCabe, head of the EPA's air pollution office, said in a statement.

The ethanol industry said it's completely unacceptable that the EPA still isn't setting the levels in the statute, and its use of the waiver is improper.

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11 comments:

Rebel Without a Clue said...

Just keep killing our engines with this mess and not to mention that the shelf-life will become even shorter when storing it in your garage for mowers and what-not.

Anonymous said...

Also, turns more forests into cornfields.

Anonymous said...

Ethanol is horrible stuff.

Most of what we buy is E10 - or 10% ethanol. What I've noticed is that non-Ethanol gas gives me almost 10% better gas mileage. So most fossil fuel "savings" is really consumed via reduced efficiency.

It also kills carburetors and fuel lines in small engines, making you jump through hoops to properly store equipment in the off season and endure higher repair and maintenance costs. I buy higher octane fuel, always use stabilizer, and try to use "just enough" gas every time to try and mitigate the problem. But it's a PITA to replace leaky fuel lines every other year in my leaf blower, run machines dry, or get the snow thrower fueled up and working in the cold winter air.

The increased ethanol consumption also runs up our debt faster (subsidies) and makes food more expensive (grain feed, buying corn, even trading farm land from other purposes to corn when it pays better).

Rob said...

And remember from studies done not to long ago, ethanol costs more to produce than gasoline. So the more ethanol they put in gas and diesel, the price of a gallon of fuel will increase.

Anonymous said...

When will these morons at EPA give it up?

Anonymous said...

this is BS.

Anonymous said...

Brought to your from the child porn division of the EPA?

With all the evidence that this is a very bad idea, I would follow the money all the way to Monsanto to see who is getting paid off to promote this.

Anonymous said...

get rid of this crap I am for farmers but make corn foods Not ethanol.

Anonymous said...

To protect carburetors you must add an additive especially in older engines and even lawn equipment. Perhaps Trump can reign in the EPA who truly has no authority to mandate any programs or laws. Require them to go thru Congress as the additional cost of fuel should be considered a tax.

Anonymous said...

11:36, Good post,thank you.

It takes 1.2 gal. of petro energy to produce 1 gal. of ethanol,for a net loss of .2 gal.

The ethanol grain market has skyrocketed the cost of food products.

My 7.3 diesel gets 25 to 35% better mileage than comparable
gas engines. So if I use 100 gal.,regular gas would be 125 gal.,and gasohol would be 135 gal.

How many billions of dollars has the EPA spent just on promotion alone of ethanol?

Steve said...

Abolish the EPA altogether. They were once a needed entity, but have become a government monster out of control.