Free Republic

To the federal government, ethanol only counts as a conventional biofuel if it is produced from switchgrass, corn starch or some other easily replenished materials. But Texas Rep. Pete Olson wants to change that. On Tuesday, the Houston-area Republican is introducing legislation that would allow ethanol produced from natural gas to compete with corn-based ethanol under the federal renewable fuels standard, an eight-year-old mandate that forces refiners to blend an increasing amount of alternatives into petroleum-based fuels. Technically, the measure would create a new “domestic alternative fuel” category under the RFS, under which the natural-gas based product would qualify. Olson...

This comes as no surprise to Hot Air readers, who learned about the value of the Obama administration’s $150 million subsidy investment of LG Chem last fall. After furloughing its workers at their Grand Rapids plant without having a single one of their batteries installed in a consumer vehicle, the local NBC affiliate produced this report on the way taxpayer money got spent:

The Congressional Budget Office on Tuesday quietly raised the 10-year cost of ObamaCare´s insurance subsidies offered via the health law´s exchanges by $233 billion, according to a Congressional Budget Office review of its latest spending forecast. The CBO´s new baseline estimate shows that ObamaCare subsidies offered through the insurance exchanges — which are supposed to be up and running by next January — will total more than $1 trillion through 2022, up from $814 billion over those same years in its budget forecast made a year ago. That´s an increase of nearly 29%.

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. — Even in the off season, the pastel beach houses lining a skinny strip of sand here are a testament to the good life. They are also a monument to the generosity of the federal government. The western end of this Gulf Coast island has proved to be one of the most hazardous places in the country for waterfront property. Since 1979, nearly a dozen hurricanes and large storms have rolled in and knocked down houses, chewed up sewers and water pipes and hurled sand onto the roads. Yet time and again, checks from Washington have allowed...

Mr. Chairman: If the House is to live up to the promises the Republican majority made to the American people to bring spending under control, some tough choices are going to have to be made. But this amendment isn’t one of them. This is about the easiest choice the House could possibly make: to put an end to the so-called “Essential Air Service” that lavishly subsidizes some of the least essential air services in the country. This program shells out nearly $200 million a year – including $114 million of direct taxpayer subsidies – to support empty and near-empty flights...

Mr. Chairman: If the House is to live up to the promises the Republican majority made to the American people to bring spending under control, some tough choices are going to have to be made. But this amendment isn’t one of them. This is about the easiest choice the House could possibly make: to put an end to the so-called “Essential Air Service” that lavishly subsidizes some of the least essential air services in the country. This program shells out nearly $200 million a year – including $114 million of direct taxpayer subsidies – to support empty and near-empty flights...

Subsidizing Failure House Chamber, Washington, D.C. June 1, 2012 Mr. Chairman: This amendment saves nearly one and a half billion dollars by ending the failed Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program. If we’re serious about an “all of the above energy policy” we’ve got to stop using taxpayer money to pick winners and losers based on their political connections, and instead require every energy company to compete on its own merits as decided by the customers it attracts by offering better products at lower cost. For too long we have suffered from the conceit that politicians can make better energy...

Subsidizing Failure House Chamber, Washington, D.C. June 1, 2012 Mr. Chairman: This amendment saves nearly one and a half billion dollars by ending the failed Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Program. If we’re serious about an “all of the above energy policy” we’ve got to stop using taxpayer money to pick winners and losers based on their political connections, and instead require every energy company to compete on its own merits as decided by the customers it attracts by offering better products at lower cost. For too long we have suffered from the conceit that politicians can make better energy...

LAS VEGAS — The company behind the recently opened Silver State North solar plant is eligible to receive up to $50 million in federal tax credits under the Obama administration’s “stimulus” legislation, even though the plant created only two full-time jobs. According to a Department of Interior memo, Enbridge Energy Partners, a Canadian-based company with extensive energy holdings in the U.S. that purchased the Southern Nevada plant from Arizona-based First Solar, “can apply for payments of up to 30 percent of the eligible costs of the project — approximately $50 million.” The payments are available through the 1603 Program, a...

New research shows how federal spending on higher education can backfire.Federal aid for students has increased 164% over the past decade, adjusted for inflation, according to the College Board. Yet three-quarters of Americans and even a majority of college presidents see college as unaffordable for most, and that sentiment has been steadily spreading, the Pew Research Center reports. Two new studies offer clues on why. One measures the degree to which some colleges reduce their own aid in response to increased federal aid. The other suggests federal aid is helping to push college costs higher.Recipients of federal Pell Grants have,...

The House passed the administration’s offshore wind power bill Friday amid accusations Gov. Martin O’Malley secured votes on the House Economic Matters Committee with disparity grants to committee members’ districts. “Those of you who have been here longer than two weeks know there’s a lot of complicated pressures that go into making a bill pass or fail,” said House Minority Leader Anthony O’Donnell. “Sometimes it takes a little nudge, sometimes it takes a carrot, and sometimes it takes a stick.” The disparity grant program in Maryland provides subsidies to jurisdictions with income tax receipts that fall below 75% of the...

A new study on Michigan’s 2011 Pure Michigan advertising campaign repeats the common ploy of using "multiplier" analyses to defend some line items in the state budget. This technique is often used to justify government spending on everything from public transportation to film subsidies. Multiplier analyses take some economic activity and estimate its net economic impacts. For example, it looks at something like a customer buying a pair of shoes, and estimates what effect the retailer's use of the proceeds from the sale has as that money flows through the economy. Though they often use overblown and sometimes erroneous assumptions,...

From the Reno Gazette-Journal: Nearly two years after Reno started installing energy-producing windmills at city facilities from downtown to Stead, some have proven to be better at generating electricity than others despite claims made by manufacturers. The city’s seven windmills have so far saved Reno $2,785 in energy costs after generating 25,319 kilowatt-hours of electricity. The windmills were installed between April and October 2010 and cost about $1 million out of a $2.1 million federal energy grant given to the city that was part of the stimulus package approved by Congress in February 2009. That’s according to data available...

Drudge pulled this link after just a few hours, but has others on there all day. A $10,000 proposed subsidy for Volt buyers is a relevant story. Is Drudge not a reliable source anymore?

Police fired tear gas at protesters in the Nigerian capital Monday as anger mounted after the government ended fuel subsidies, more than doubling petrol prices in the poverty stricken country. The move announced Sunday in Africa's most populous nation and largest oil producer, saw petrol prices rocket to about 140 niara (0.66 euros, $0.96) per litre on Monday from 65 niara, where the price had been artificially held. Most Nigerians live on less than two dollars a day. Queues formed Sunday and again on Monday, a public holiday, with drivers hoping to purchase fuel before prices rise further and fearing...

Interesting timing, especially when some biomass companies are switching from wood chips to corn, because they couldn’t turn a profit on wood chips. Looks like all the wheels are coming off the bus now.To Survive, Some Biofuels Companies Give Up on Biofuels – Technology Review Gevo, a prominent advanced-biofuels company that has received millions in U.S. government funding to develop fuels made from cellulosic sources such as grass and wood chips, is finding that it can’t use these materials if it hopes to survive. Instead, it’s going to use corn, a common source for conventional biofuels. What’s more, most of...

Each Chevy Volt sold thus far may have as much as $250,000 in state and federal dollars in incentives behind it – a total of $3 billion altogether, according to an analysis by James Hohman, assistant director of fiscal policy at the Mackinac Center for Public Policy. Hohman looked at total state and federal assistance offered for the development and production of the Chevy Volt, General Motors’ plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. His analysis included 18 government deals that included loans, rebates, grants and tax credits. The amount of government assistance does not include the fact that General Motors is currently...

China imposes tariff on US car imports Additional duties will be charged on larger-engined American cars with General Motors, Chrysler and BMW all affected. GMC trucks at a General Motors dealership in Los Angeles China is to charge import tariffs on US cars such as these General Motors SUVs. Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters The tension between America and China over international trade escalated on Wednesday when Beijing imposed additional duties on cars imported from the United States. China's commerce ministry accused America's car industry of "dumping and subsidising", thereby causing substantial damage to China's domestic car industry. From Thursday, levies will...

The sun shines on the beachfront mansions of Malibu and La Jolla, just as it does on Compton and Barrio Logan in San Diego. ... But based on how California policymakers dole out valuable subsidies for solar panels placed on the residential roofs, the poorest parts of our sunny state might as well be on the dark side of the moon. California is in the midst of by far the nation's most ambitious program to convert to solar energy, one that began in 2006 when then Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared that during the next decade, the state would place solar...

04 October 2011 Paris --- Governments and taxpayers spent about half a trillion dollars last year supporting the production and consumption of fossil fuels. Removing inefficient subsidies would raise national revenues and reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, according to OECD and IEA analyses.