Posted on 04/05/2010 7:24:10 AM PDT by opentalk
On April 1, the Obama administration’s EPA issued final rules forcing automakers to increase their vehicles’ fuel economy by 40 percent in five years. The next day, the very same EPA favorably reviewed an ethanol fuel mandate that would force autos to get up to 5 percent worse fuel economy.
You can’t make this stuff up.
Follow us here. By the same date — 2015 — that the new 35.5 mpg EPA mandate is due to go into effect, oil companies are also mandated by Congress to double the amount of corn ethanol use (from 2007 levels) to 15 billion gallons. The current mandate of a 10 percent ethanol mix in fuel won’t get us there, so the powerful corn lobby is demanding EPA increase the mandate to a 15 percent ethanol mix.
Trouble is, a gallon of ethanol is 30 percent less efficient than a gallon of gas meaning that the more ethanol you mix in, the worse your gas mileage. Department of Energy studies show steadily decreasing fuel economy as ethanol blends rise from so-called E10 (fuel composed of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gas) up through E15 and E20 — with E20 suffering a 7.7 percent fuel efficiency loss.
Yet DOE’s green-zealot-in-chief Steven Chu still favors an increased mix of ethanol. So while automakers are sweating under the federal gun to make increasingly fuel-efficient engines, the government is mandating they do it with less-efficient fuel.
We’re still not making this up.
The Environmental Protection Agency wants to dump more corn into your fuel tank this summer, and it's going to cost more than you think.
Ethanol fuel — worst idea ever — turning food into fuel.
They’re ripping up the Amazon rain forest to grow crops for fuel.
According to the National Geographic, Ethanol Production Could Be Eco-Disaster, Brazil’s Critics Say.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070208-ethanol.html
I don’t think the EPA should exist. But of course, I’m just a “kook” for asking about the constitutionality of its existence.
Ethanol doesn’t take food and turn it into fuel - unless you want to count soda pop as food.
That said, no fuel should be mandated or subsidized. It should stand on it’s own or not at all.
“Ethanol: the cause of, and solution to, all of our problems.”
-—Homer Simpson (paraphrased)
The actual new rule is not a set mpg but a CO2 limit that “equates” to a higher mpg.
They require these vehicles to meet an estimated combined average emissions level of 250 grams of carbon dioxide per mile, equivalent to 35.5 miles per gallon (MPG) if the automobile industry were to meet this carbon dioxide level solely through fuel economy improvements.
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations.htm
The rule is then full of loopholes and credits for changes to air conditioning, Flex Fuel (ethanol), Advanced Technology Credits, Off-Cycle Innovative Technology Credits, Early Credits, etc.
EPA’s Program Flexibilities
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/regulations/420f10014.htm#4
I have been asking that question for years.How the hell did the EPA become the supreme law over the 10th amendment? It was a executive order by Dick(the original RINO)Nixon that created this nightmare.Can any one out in freeper land explain this to us "kooks".
This is unbelievable. I was in the car just the other day listening to the news on the radio and they were talking about some city (can’t remember where) where the residents were usuing less water and how it was going to hurt the city’s funds. So what is this “green” city going to do to reward its citizes for conserving water? They are going to RAISE THE WATER AND SEWER RATES! You just can’t make this stuff up!
How ironic- saving the rainforests used to be a leftist cause.
I We must end our dependence upon "fossil" fuel
II Obviously, the way to do this is by using more "non-fossil" fuel. "Fossil" fuel bad. Fuel from corn good.
III Therefore, fellow green worshippers of Mother Gaia, we will get this good fuel by converting our like superabundant (and like really unhealthy) corn crop to ethanol, at great cost and highly subsidized expense.
(a.) Of course, we shall not buy this ethanol from Brazil,which since it discovered and exploited massive "fossil" fuel resources, has absolutely no need for it and is all too willing to sell it to us at a third of the price of the home-grown stuff, or less.
(b.) Some of you little people want us to be like Brazil, and drill for our own "Fossil" fuel. That is because you are bad, unhealthy, racist homophobe imperialistichegenmonicpatriarchalgendernormative bad people who have not the in-depth knowledge we, as your chosen leaders, have about Global Warming, Carbon Footprints, and melting glaciers. Did I mention you bad people were racists?
IV Of course, the price of tortillas is skyrocketing as more and more of the corn crop goes into fuel tanks, instead of the bellies of hungry Mexicans, which is why we must have Amnesty immediately.
If only you members of the VRWC were as smart as we, all of this would be clear to you. O, don't bother voting against us, those Mexicans from "IV" will be registered upon arrival and be voting for us, as and where needed.
The tree of liberty is thirsty.
If any plant is a natural for ethanol conversion it is Brazil’s sugar cane. You get a much higher yield than from corn. (So I have heard)
I believe I read that sugar cane does the job 7x better
That happens all the time. The citizens get guilt tripped eco-style into using less water. Then the rates get jacked up. The slugs in gubbermint refuse to work on a smaller revenue stream
Compare it with the enviro dish detergent and low flow toilets. These idiots are destroying our standard of living. Liberalism is mental illness.
The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable…
The whole "Brazil-Ethanol Clean Energy" story is a bit of a fairy tale. For about 20 minutes, Brazil thought about basing its energy policy on ethanol. Absolutely did not work.
Ethanol simply doesn't have the BTU's. Period. It was a way to use their excess sugar crop. That's all.
At the same time, Brazil exploited their massive newly discovered reserves of petroleum, and encouraged the use of clean diesel, to become completely energy self-sufficient, as we could. Meanwhile, their excess ethanol production capability is looking for customers. The Aggie Lobby did its job to make importing cheap ethanol ILLEGAL! Thank you, ADM!
Stupid factoid department: If the US passenger car fleet were diesel powered, we would need very little or no imported oil right now!
That 35 mpg Fleet Average would be very attainable with clean diesel.
However, "Diesel" is worse than any four-letter word to our hereditary elites.
I won’t dispute anything you say. But if you are stuck with ethanol then sugar cane converts a lot better than corn. Yes Brazil is exploiting its off shore petroleum ruthlessly. Brazil is leftist ruled and eco-wackos get no traction there. They get stiff armed by the socialists in charge
yep, that is what I found when the 10% ethanol was added to the gasoline here in Maryland 10+ years ago. My mileage dropped by 10%. And I was driving a Geo Storm (5 speed) that got good mileage — daily to/from work 33 MPG before, 28-29 MPG afterwards.
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