Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

The Ethanol Fraud
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3130684&page=1 ^

Posted on 05/05/2007 6:19:15 AM PDT by truthfinder9

There was a great piece on 20/20 last night about the ethanol fraud, read it here: http://abcnews.go.com/2020/story?id=3130684&page=1

For example:

But if ethanol made so much sense, we wouldn't have to subsidize it or mandate its consumption. Jerry Taylor of the Cato Institute said, "If you can make a profit in this economy by putting something on the market, the government doesn't need to put a gun to your head."


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: e85scam; energy; environment; ethanol; ethanolscam; oil
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-72 next last
To: Minn

It seems ethanol has emerged as the best opportunity to relax our dependence on foreign oil. In that context, the “cost” of developing an alternative to oil can’t be measured only in dollars.

Right now, oil is costing us lives. And it’s only going to get more costly.


21 posted on 05/05/2007 7:15:00 AM PDT by Paraclete
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: thackney

We also have soy diesel. I really am not pro or con on the subject.


22 posted on 05/05/2007 7:20:54 AM PDT by Piquaboy (22 year veteran of the Army, Air Force and Navy, Pray for all our military .)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: eraser2005; All

“So as soon as we agree to stop HEAVILY subsidizing oil, roads, airports, etc, as well, we should stop subsidizing ethanol.”

What has “roads, airports” got to do with your premise - we would be using them no matter what fuel our vehicles used and THEY - the roads and airports - are public enterprises to begin with, unlike the private enterprises involved in ethanol, which also, unlike the oil companies, get taxpayer money directly handed out to them.


23 posted on 05/05/2007 7:28:03 AM PDT by Wuli
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Auntie Toots

“Wait and see what comes out of this technology......you will all be surprised.”

Many of us do understand it. And that’s why we don’t like it.
It is another way to funnel govt money to agriculture.

We need to leave energy production to the adults. We need more nukes instead of the ethanol nonsense.


24 posted on 05/05/2007 7:34:17 AM PDT by HereInTheHeartland (Never bring a knife to a gun fight, or a Democrat to do serious work...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Piquaboy
I think any alternative fuels are great, as long as they are not selectively subsidized over other domestically produced fuels. Why should we select ethanol over biodiesel? It appears it is only done because of who has the best lobbyists in congress.
25 posted on 05/05/2007 7:35:40 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: Minn
*([: {()

Tagline....I still like it better with the bomb!


26 posted on 05/05/2007 7:36:55 AM PDT by ErnBatavia (...forward this to your 10 very best friends....)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: Auntie Toots

Ethanol is a fraud!! It’s causing our meat prices to skyrocket and for what. In new cars it’s effect on emissions is negligable. Fuel effecient cars more than offset its value. Poor people all over the world get screwed again by the enviro’s and their faulty science. Food prices keep going up because corn is wasted making ethanol.
They can develop their new technology with out us having to support something that shows a loss in the long run. But I’m not going to hold my breath, alchohol has been around for longer than hydrocarbon and look where it is now.


27 posted on 05/05/2007 7:37:38 AM PDT by gbs
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

I’m waiting for the day when I can drive past any gas station with my middle finger up, regardless of they are selling.

Thy Hydrogen economy can’t get here fast enough!


28 posted on 05/05/2007 7:43:44 AM PDT by paul544 (3D-Joy OH Boy!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: Jacquerie

I believe the tariff is somewhere between $.50 and $.60 per gallon.


29 posted on 05/05/2007 7:45:55 AM PDT by Cuchulain ("...never treat with the enemy; never surrender to his mercy, but fight to the finish.")
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: eraser2005
when if you removed subsidies from gasoline, we’d likely be paying double what we are.

What subsidies does gasoline get? What is the gasoline tax? What are you talking about?

30 posted on 05/05/2007 7:47:24 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Why are protectionists (and goldbugs) so bad at math?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: paul544

Who do you think will own the hydrogen fueling stations you dream of?


31 posted on 05/05/2007 7:48:21 AM PDT by Old Professer (The critic writes with rapier pen, dips it twice, and writes again.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: truthfinder9

Meanwhile...we’re buring our food.


32 posted on 05/05/2007 7:49:18 AM PDT by Excellence (Three million years is enough! Stop cyclical climate change now!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Paraclete
Why don’t we just drill for our own huge proven reserves of oil?
The price of gas would go way down instead of up with ethanol.
We would not have to construct a new industry for refining it only some more oil refineries.
We would be independent of foreign oil far sooner without paying exorbitantly high gas prices.
If we instituted a Manhatten Project level effort to use our own oil we could easily be independent within five years.
If we had been smart we would have started in the nineties and be completely independent now and we would be paying less that $1.50/gallon for gas instead of $3.50 now and would not be sending billions to the Arabs who use the money against us.
Why we are so afraid of the narcissistic envirowackos is beyond me. They are costing us billions of dollars and our security.
33 posted on 05/05/2007 7:57:29 AM PDT by smoketree (the insanity, the lunacy these days.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Paraclete
Right now, oil is costing us lives. And it’s only going to get more costly.

I'll stay out of the ethanol fight for now. But I don't believe terrorism will stop if we were to immediately find other sources of fuel.

These people want to see us dead...period. It's not really about oil that our brave lives are being lost.

It's about radical islam vs everyone else. Since we are the biggest other target, we will always be in their crosshairs.

34 posted on 05/05/2007 8:00:54 AM PDT by SteamShovel (Global Warming, the New Patriotism)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 21 | View Replies]

To: Old Professer
Doesn't matter. Unlike oil, which is controlled by a select few, the materials needed to produce hydrogen will be accessible.
35 posted on 05/05/2007 8:15:54 AM PDT by paul544 (3D-Joy OH Boy!!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 31 | View Replies]

To: paul544
the materials needed to produce hydrogen will be accessible.

Which materials used in what way?

36 posted on 05/05/2007 8:17:38 AM PDT by Toddsterpatriot (Why are protectionists (and goldbugs) so bad at math?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 35 | View Replies]

To: paul544
Thy Hydrogen economy can’t get here fast enough!

What energy source will be used to produce the hydrogen? Hydrogen doesn't exist in significant quantities in the world unless chemically bonded in other more stable molecules like water and methane. It takes another energy source like coal, oil, natural gas or nuclear to produce hydrogen. At most hydrogen plants today, Natural Gas is the economically source of hydrogen. You should think of hydrogen as a battery, not an energy source. And actually, ethanol (because of its large energy requirement to produce it) is little more than an energy storage medium as well.

37 posted on 05/05/2007 8:22:57 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: eraser2005
if you removed subsidies from gasoline

Subsidies??? The governments MAKES more money on a gallon of gasoline than the oil companies.

38 posted on 05/05/2007 8:24:24 AM PDT by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: truthfinder9

Saw it last night. It was a great piece.

Was real disappointed the section on the DC Madam didn’t name Norquist though.


39 posted on 05/05/2007 8:26:08 AM PDT by sauropod ("An intelligent man is sometimes forced to be drunk to spend time with his fools." Ernest Hemingway)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: truthfinder9

Well, maybe there was one good thing about President Bush coming out in SOTUS with his ethanol plan. It means that the media will immediately start attacking it, simply because Bush proposed it.

It WAS the property of the Democrats until now. They backed it by pretending it was environmentally sound, but their real motive was pork for the farm state votes.

I know a lot of environmentalists who are now speaking out and saying that ethanol is a stupid idea that will end up increasing the price of food and starving the poor, and that it doesn’t save energy anyway. All true, but they weren’t saying it until Bush made his proposal, at least not that I heard.

So, maybe we can kill the whole idea of government subsidies for ethanol. If so, then Bush’s proposal will have been very helpful.


40 posted on 05/05/2007 8:27:01 AM PDT by Cicero (Marcus Tullius)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-72 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson