Posted on 08/14/2012 4:43:12 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two U.S. governors asked the United States government on Tuesday to waive this year's mandate for making ethanol from corn, adding pressure on it to relieve meat producers from high corn prices spurred by the worst drought in more than 50 years.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
U.S. President Barack Obama (2nd L) leaves drought-damaged corn fields with the owners, on the McIntosh family farm in Missouri Valley, Iowa, August 13, 2012. Leading members of the Group of 20 nations are prepared to trigger an emergency meeting to address soaring grain prices caused by the worst U.S. drought in more than half a century and poor crops from the Black Seabread basket. The campaign bus is pictured in the background. REUTERS/Larry Downing
They should not have to ask permission to do such a thing.
How did we ever get here?
FOOD prices before ETHANOL. Common sense. And if you don’t think so, you are evil. Evil is misunderstood. It is most frequently personified in someone else believing they know best for everyone else and being willing to harm them to prove it.
This fits the definition.
When you have to beg the EPA to let you use corn for food during a terrible drought you have an evil on display.
Let us deal with it once and for all and abolish the EPA.
Farmers do have the option of purchasing insurance against disasters, but many don't bother. Probably figure the expense isn't worth it.
I agree that they should waive the ethanol requirement too.
Agree.
The EPA obviously thinks it’s more important to feed cars than people.
Conservatives are about to find out why government spending will never decrease and why ethanol mandates are here to stay. Just watch the farm state Republicans join with Democrats in support of ethanol mandates. It’s not really about the environment. It’s about Archer Daniels Midland and other big agricultural businesses and people like Sen. Grassley. Don’t count on any politician doing the right thing.
Why even bother asking. Just nullify. That’s what Obama did with recess appointments and the DREAM Act. That is the lesson he has taught. Nullify.
June 25, 2011
But rather than ameliorate the problem, the government has exacerbated it, reducing food supply to a hungry world. Thanks to Washington, 4 of every 10 ears of corn grown in America — the source of 40 percent of the world’s production — are shunted into ethanol, a gasoline substitute that imperceptibly nicks our energy problem. Larded onto that are $11 billion a year of government subsidies to the corn complex.
Corn is hardly some minor agricultural product for breakfast cereal. It’s America’s largest crop, dwarfing wheat and soybeans. A small portion of production goes for human consumption; about 40 percent feeds cows, pigs, turkeys and chickens. Diverting 40 percent to ethanol has disagreeable consequences for food. In just a year, the price of bacon has soared by 24 percent.
http://www.nationalreview.com/planet-gore/270494/40-percent-corn-goes-ethanol-greg-pollowitz
Under the five-year-old Renewable Fuel Standard, U.S. fuel companies are required to ensure that 9 percent of their gasoline pools are made up of ethanol this year, which means converting some 40 percent of the corn crop into the biofuel.
A White House spokesman said President Barack Obama was “looking at” the possibility of a waiver together with the Environmental Protection Agency and the USDA.
But with staunch farm belt support and an election looming, many political analysts say the odds of a waiver are low.
The federal government would have to use intelligence and have compassion which are two things they are lacking.
The Republicans had the opportunity to allow the EPA to die without having to take a vote but instead voted to keep this crap going. Dumbasses!
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