Thanx for the ping neverdem !
Beam me to Planet Gore !
Posted on 01/11/2012 1:38:50 PM PST by neverdem
The Orwellian nightmare of running a business in the shadow of the Obama Administration is nicely captured in this story from the New York Times, which explains why motor fuel companies are about to be fined $6.8 million for failure to use a biofuel that does not exist:
In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons into gasoline and diesel in 2011 and face a quota of 8.65 million gallons this year.
“It belies logic,” Charles T. Drevna, the president of the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, said of the 2011 quota. And raising the quota for 2012 when there is no production makes even less sense, he said.
Penalizing the fuel suppliers demonstrates what happens when the federal government really, really wants something that technology is not ready to provide. In fact, while it may seem harsh that the Environmental Protection Agency is penalizing them for failing to do the impossible, the agency is being lenient by the standards of the law, the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
Ah, so that’s what passes for “lenience” from the bureaucrats and czars these days. Be thankful for our generosity, comrades! We could have fined you much more heavily for failing to do something that was literally impossible. Clutch every dollar we allow you to keep, and weep with joy at our munificence!
This is all part of an elaborate ritual fuel companies are required to perform, in accordance with the official state religion of “global warming.” These biofuels are supposed to reduce “greenhouse gas” emissions by 50 percent. Actually, I suppose the biofuels that don’t actually exist are reducing such emissions by 100 percent. Such is the wisdom of the almighty State.
This kind of nonsense is a regular feature of Stalinist command economics. Stalin himself was a bold pioneer in politically decreeing the impossible. He ordered that corn should be grown in Siberia, even though corn cannot grow in Siberia. The results were far worse than a $6.8 million tithe to the Church of Global Warming, so the fuel companies should consider themselves lucky.
How could anyone possibly defend this tyrannical lunacy? Like this:
[Dennis V. McGinn] of the council on renewable energy defends the overall energy statute. Even if the standards for 2011 and 2012 are not met, he said, “I am absolutely convinced from a national security perspective and an economic perspective that the renewable fuel standard, writ large, is the right thing to do.” With oil insecurity and climate change related to greenhouse gas emissions as worrisome as ever, advocates say, there is strong reason to press forward.
Never mind that no one can prove any such “climate change” is occurring, let alone that it has any relationship to “greenhouse gas emissions.” The commissars have spoken, and they are not to be questioned. If it makes no sense to you… well, perhaps your sanity needs to be questioned, eh?
Remember, Big Government is much smarter than private industry, and far better equipped to handle the ever-changing challenges of a fast-moving, high tech world. That’s why it raised the annual quotas for using a fuel that does not exist.
Slow nationalization of companies through taxation, regulation and fines....
Corporatism
I don’t see why the companies don’t fight this nonsense in the courts but I guess it’s just easier and cheaper to render unto Caesar and pass the costs along to the consumer. And there is rough justice in doing that since consumers are the people who voted for the Einsteins who instituted the requirement in the first place.
Well, to be fair, it was the Bush administration that started this cellulosic ethanol nonsense.
Obama to Congress: I’ll decide what’s constitutional
Some noteworthy articles about politics, foreign or military affairs, IMHO, FReepmail me if you want on or off my list.
Thank God for the 'alternative media', FR included, that at least gives a small portion of the population the unvarnished and unlovely truth. However, some days,the blissful ignorance most Americans live in seems almost preferable. Fortunately, such feelings quickly pass. Replaced by a combination of dread and anger at what the left (with far too much cooperation from the 'right') has done to our freedom in so many ways.
At least Obama and his tribe are consistent... they all suck.
Wait a minute-- are you saying the oil companies can't afford wood chips and corncobs?
What with all the raping of the environment they do, they ought to have plenty of inedible and edible plants and wood chips. All they need to do is build a few stills.
Hell I may do it myself. Getting the permits should be no problem...
is a sarc tag mandatory?
More and more, junior Bush reminds me of Nixon. From his signing this biofuel foolery with penalties and subsidies to his compassionate conservatism with Medicare Part D and No Child Left Behind he was still vilified by an opposition that wanted our defeat in war.
Thanx for the ping neverdem !
As of this moment I will start eating my corncobs.
Bend over and spread ‘em!
Fascism - a system of governmental control where the government controls businesses through massive regulations, laws, and fines.
Fascism should more appropriately be called Corporatism because it is a merger of state and corporate power. -Benito Mussolini
I used to think what the Dems did to Nixon had a lot to do with their vendetta stemming from Helen Gahagan Douglas and Alger Hiss. But looking at the way Dems were seized by Bush Derangement Syndrome, it’s obvious they will do the same thing to any Republican president, no matter how “compassionate” they try to be or how many times they support legislation liked by the Dems. Nixon founded the EPA ferchrisake and they still went after him.
But it is so much more fun to call the Rats who support it fascists.
He should have been the left's wet dream. He started price controls, OSHA, affirmative action, Detente and the SALT treaty with the Sovit Union, the opening to China with letting the Chicoms on the SEcurity Council and selling out the Republic of China on Taiwan. I probably forgot something. The radical left started getting control of the rats with their hatred of Nixon.
Oh, I think taking the U.S. off the gold standard and starting the era of floating currencies should go on the Nixon list. He sure made George Soros a rich man.
bump
On the flip side, there is a candidate who has been saying the same thing for 25+ years:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1944714/posts
For what its worth.
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