Free Republic

Donald Trump says that Ted Cruz has flip-flopped on the ethanol mandate, formerly wanting it abolished immediately and now wanting it abolished after a five-year phase-out. This is hardly a major change of position, but Trump is right that Cruz changed his position on ethanol in 2014 from totally ending the mandate to a gradual phase-out. But 2014 was so long ago that in 2014, Donald Trump was a liberal Democrat. If Donald Trump wants to catalog flip-flops, he should start with these: 1) Trump has said that the economy "does better under the Democrats than Republicans." 2) He has...

The master of environmental babble was at it again last week. Yup, Al Gore was out committing Goreisms yet once more. And, as always, he spouted a whole lot of propaganda based on just a slim hair of truth. For instance, Gore starts out saying that, "here in the United States, patriotism doesn't mean keeping quiet. It means speaking out and standing up for a stronger, more secure nation." Anyone following the Clinton-Gore administration those eight long years knows what kind of baloney that is. Not only did both Clinton and Gore ask for and receive illegal campaign funds from...

I was reading how Phil Gramm couldn’t be more pleased with the economy while he upset John McCain greatly by saying so being McCain’s top economic advisor. Its funny but if Phil Gramm had stayed in the senate, he would likely be the Republican nominee for this presidential election cycle because he was such a favored senate leader until he quit a few days before September 11, 2001, 911. I remember his announcement about not going to seek reelection coming as kind of a shock to me personally, but not really. It was like when Enron crashed a few months...

NEW YORK - At least two major oil companies said late Wednesday they have agreed to settle lawsuits over the use of the gasoline additive MTBE, a potential carcinogen that has been found in drinking water. Representatives of Valero Energy Corp. and Chevron Corp. said they had joined the settlement, although a number of other oil companies are also named in a memo supporting the deal that was obtained by The Associated Press. The companies confirmed their involvement after The Wall Street Journal reported on its Web site that several oil companies agreed to pay $423 million plus cleanup costs...

High levels of cancer-causing benzene and the suspected carcinogen MTBE have been found in the ground water beneath a Citgo gas station in Monrovia, the Frederick County Health Department said Tuesday. Both chemicals are gasoline additives.There is no indication that the contamination has migrated offsite, the health department said. All property owners within a half-mile of Green Valley Citgo will be notified of the sampling results, the agency said. The health department said benzene, a known carcinogen, was detected at a level of 66 parts per billion, or about 13 times the federal Environmental Protection Agency's maximum contaminant level of...

It seems like an easy fix. Oil prices have hit record highs. Ethanol, a gasoline additive, can both stretch our supplies of oil and ease air pollution. And best of all, it's a corn-based product. Although America imports nearly two-thirds of its oil, it grows all the corn it needs and more. So all lawmakers have to do is require that gasoline contain a given percentage of ethanol, and our gas-price problems won't be as bad. Or so the theory goes. The problem is, we've been doing this for years, and it's not working so well. In fact, it's part...

THIS WEEK IN PETROLEUM Understanding Gasoline Inventories With the dramatic drop in total gasoline inventories over the last few weeks (see Figure 4 in the Weekly Petroleum Status Report (WPSR) or put your mouse on the word “Gasoline” in the stock chart to the left of this report), some analysts may be wondering if EIA is picking up all gasoline inventories during this transition from Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) reformulated gasoline (RFG) to ethanol RFG, since ethanol is not blended into the gasoline mixture until just before the gasoline gets shipped to the retail stations. Other analysts wonder if...

I filled up my 2003 Chevy at an Albertson's grocery on Tuesday. For those who don't know, Albertson's is a very large grocery chain in Texas, other places as well I suppose. My tank was almost completely empty so I had to completely fill up. As I went to fill up, I noticed that there was a sign on the pump that stated that the gas would contain up to 10% ethanol. I seemed to recall that gas stations were having to go to the ethanol blend and get rid of MTBE, so I didn't really think anything of it....

Gasoline Skyrocketing Gasoline prices have been on a tear recently with some of the largest weekly increases on record. In some parts of the country, prices at the pump have exceeded $3.00 per gallon for regular, although the average lingers near $2.80. Prices will go higher, muchhigher. These price increases, occurring fully two months before the summer season, have created alarm. The familiar cries in the press are back and predictably, politicians are looking for the usual suspects. Obviously, crude oil prices can in part explain the recent gasoline price increases, which almost mirror last year’s. Crude oil, which a...

The high cost of summer drivingEthanol switchover could stoke gasoline prices By Stephanie I. Cohen Last Update: 7:00 PM ET Apr 18, 2006 WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The drive to produce cleaner-burning fuel could lead to gasoline price spikes in some areas of the country as ethanol markets remain tight throughout the summer, government and industry officials are warning. These hikes would be on top of the 25-cents-a-gallon average increase in prices at the pump already expected this summer compared with last year, according to the Energy Department. Ethanol is a home-grown renewable fuel made primarily from corn feedstock that can...

...In 1981, there were 325 refineries in the U.S. with a capacity of 18.6 million barrels per day. Today, there are 148, with a capacity of about 17 million barrels -- though U.S. demand for gasoline has increased more than 20%.... One explanation for this performance is the historically low gas prices over much of the past 20 years; there has often been little incentive to build new capacity. But just as big a problem are onerous and costly regulatory burdens that have sucked profits from the industry. This includes a permitting process that is subject to endless bureaucratic delay...

SANTA MONICA, Calif., Sept. 7 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Foundation for Taxpayer and Consumer Rights (FTCR) today exposed internal oil company memos that show how the industry intentionally reduced domestic refining capacity to drive up profits. The exposure comes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina as the oil industry blames environmental regulation for limiting number of U.S. refineries. The three internal memos from Mobil, Chevron, and Texaco (available at http://www.consumerwatchdog.org/energy/fs/ show different ways the oil giants closed down refining capacity and drove independent refiners out of business. The confidential memos demonstrate a nationwide effort by American Petroleum Institute, the lobbying...

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - A trade tribunal has rejected a Canadian company's challenge to California's ban on the gasoline additive MTBE under the North American Free Trade Agreement. Methanex Corp., which produces an MTBE component called methanol, had filed a $970 million claim against the United States under NAFTA six years ago. The Vancouver-based firm claimed the state ban was aimed at removing foreign competition for American makers of ethanol, a potential substitute for MTBE, or methyl tertiary-butyl ether. The U.S. State Department has not officially announced the ruling and declined to comment on the case, said spokesman Steven Pike....

Never say Congress isn't willing to accept blame -- as long as it can assign it to someone else. Having mandated the use of the fuel additive MTBE, the Members now want to shake down the companies foolish enough to have made the product. This is the real story behind the debate over MTBE, which has once again become the sticking point in the House-Senate conference over the energy bill. The House has passed modest liability protection for MTBE makers, while Senate Democrats are threatening a filibuster if there's any such thing in the final bill. If we're lucky, the...

WASHINGTON (AP) - House and Senate conferees abandoned giving makers of the gasoline additive MTBE liability protection against environmental lawsuits on Sunday, removing the major roadblock to enactment of broad energy legislation. Senate negotiators rejected a House proposal for an $11.4 billion MTBE cleanup fund that House Republicans had hoped would serve as a compromise and still provide the liability shield to the oil industry. But Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, said "the proposal has not been accepted by the Senate" and that he would offer another MTBE proposal on Monday. Sen. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., leader of the Senate energy negotiating...

WASHINGTON - House and Senate conferees abandoned giving makers of the gasoline additive MTBE liability protection against environmental lawsuits on Sunday, removing the major roadblock to enactment of broad energy legislation. Senate negotiators rejected a House proposal for an $11.4 billion MTBE cleanup fund that House Republicans had hoped would serve as a compromise and still provide the liability shield to the oil industry. But Rep. Joe Barton (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, said "the proposal has not been accepted by the Senate" and that he would offer another MTBE proposal on Monday. Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record),...

WASHINGTON - House Republicans on Friday proposed an $11.4 billion fund, with the oil industry providing about one-third of it, to pay for cleaning water systems contaminated by the gasoline additive MTBE. The Republicans hope the proposal can help clear the way for passage of a broad energy bill. The plan would give makers of MTBE, which has been found to contaminate drinking water supplies in at least 36 states, protection against product liability lawsuits brought by communities facing billions of dollars in cleanup costs. But the cleanup fund proposal immediately drew criticism from all sides in the MTBE dispute,...

WASHINGTON - Twenty-one senators asked the Environmental Protection Agency for more information Thursday about an internal paper that reportedly concludes that the gasoline additive MTBE may cause cancer. Key elements of the document, which has not been made public, surfaced as lawmakers considered whether to shield the makers of MTBE from product liability lawsuits as a result drinking water contamination in at least 36 states. MTBE, which was put into gasoline to cut air pollution, has been banned in several states because of complaints that it adds a foul smell and turpentine-like taste to drinking water when it leaks into...

WASHINGTON - A dispute over a gasoline additive could jeopardize hopes for an agreement as the Senate and House worked on Thursday to forge a compromise to deal with the nation's energy problems. Under pressure because of soaring gasoline and other fuel prices, President Bush has urged lawmakers to send him an energy bill before they depart for their summer recess in August. Some members of Congress are skeptical about meeting that timetable. "We're going to try," said Sen. Pete Domenici (news, bio, voting record), R-N.M., who is leading the Senate negotiations. But lawmakers, he said, don't want to rush...

SACRAMENTO – Staring at potential payouts in the billions of dollars, the U.S. oil industry is maneuvering to escape responsibility for cleaning up after MTBE, the now-banned toxic gasoline additive that has seeped into drinking water across the country. If the campaign is successful, critics say taxpayers will be forced to pick up the unpaid bill. Oil producers have attached so much importance to immunity from liability that the issue has taken a place right alongside opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and tax breaks as Congress crafts a broad new energy policy. The House has already approved legislation sponsored...