Posted on 06/14/2019 4:36:43 PM PDT by Kaslin
We all know what the relationship between environmental activists and the oil and gas industry is like. It’s an endless series of demands that we stop using fossil fuels. Reduce emissions. Keep It In The Ground! You know the story. So is there anything that can bring these two, diametrically opposed groups together? Turns out there is, and it’s the EPA’s decision (vocally supported by President Trump) to allow year-round sales of E15 ethanol-blended gasoline.
But wait, you’re probably thinking. Don’t environmental activists support biofuels? Well… yes. At least for the most part. But they also know that burning ethanol during the summer produces more smog, particularly in the cities, and reliance on corn and soybeans instead of cellulosic waste products increases the environmental impact of agricultural activities. Now the two groups are on the same page, asking the President to rethink this very bad idea before it’s too late. (PS Magazine)
Trump, however, focused only on corn producers, who could benefit from the increased demand. “I mean, quite simply, it means more energy,” he said. “And what can be wrong with that? And it’s very good energy.” …
The largest oil refiner group in the country filed a petition with the U.S. Court of Appeals to block the Trump administration’s rule just this week, claiming the EPA overstepped its authority in revoking the restrictions. “A waiver for E15 is unlawful, plain and simple,” Chet Thompson, president and chief executive officer of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, said on Tuesday.
On this point of critique, the oil refiners align with environmental groups, which have made similar charges against E15 in the past. Jonathan Lewis, senior counsel for the environmental non-profit Clean Air Task Force, says the oil groups’ comments filed in April echo conservationists’ complaints. “Their interpretation of the relevant Clean Air Act provisions and why those provisions prohibit the EPA from taking this step were accurate,” he says. Specifically, the environmental law exempts E10—and not E15—from its standard for Reid vapor pressure, a measure of how clean the fuel burns, and how much smog it creates.
I don’t know who is advising the President on this issue or where they are getting their information, but E15 is not “very good energy.” Neither is E10 for that matter.
First of all, ethanol produces less energy by volume than gasoline, so your engine is working harder. Ethanol burns hotter than gasoline and has a considerable environmental footprint of its own, as mentioned above. And it sucks up a lot of corn and soybeans to make it in the quantities required to satisfy the Renewable Fuel Standard’s demands. Do you know what you can do with all of that corn and soybeans? You can eat it. (Okay.. the soybeans are a bit dubious, I’m told that many people do actually eat them. Corn, however, is delicious.)
This government-driven ethanol boom has produced more negative effects than benefits. One study from Princeton University determined that vastly expanded land usage for growing corn had actually doubled greenhouse gas emissions over the past thirty years. And the amount of corn being funneled into ethanol production has reached ridiculous amounts.
Meanwhile, President Trump is out there on the campaign trail bashing Joe Biden for not approving the use of more ethanol during the Obama years. It’s like we’ve gone through that portal in Stranger Things and landed in the upside down dimension. This entire situation has grown into a massive debacle and something has to give.
This is one where Trump is dead wrong. Just buying corn votes.
I have gone to strictly ethanol free gas, to help keep my aged van on the road until I can find a suitable replacement.
Forget the science. This is driven by pure politics.
With the purging of rat senators from flyover country the Senate should be ours, at least until 2024. The House is in full combat every election cycle.
We need to pick up 18 plus seats to get the House back. In and next to Iowa are 5 seats that are flippable. 3 in IA, 1 in West rural MN, and 1 in NW IL across the river from IA.
Winning the House back is imperative. New voter law that gets rid of absentee and same day provisional ballots is job one. Stick a knife in Motor Voter.
Fortunately I live in a town of less than three thousand about seven miles from the Sherman/Denison area. Due to the preponderance of agriculture and to the landscape industry at lake resort areas I have several stations to pick from.
I am getting about two and a half more mpg over in Sherman and four more mpg on the highway.
Ethanol
Is totally stupid
A chemical engineer
Yes, I blasted the concept of motor voter from before it was law.
Absentees, I think they’re a doorway to fraud.
It should be illegal to mine them, or whatever the proper term is for what they did recently, going door to door...
Agreed that courts matter. Motor Voter was contested by GOP in 9th Circuit. We lost.
IIRC a choice between filing in 7th versus 9th to fight it. The 7th must have been bad with JFK, LBJ, Carter, and Clinton confirmations for GOP to choose the 9th as a better chance to block it.
Currently 7th has 11 active judges. Nine confirmed by GOP Presidents. Three are in 80’s now and McConnell needs to gently push them into Senior status and replace by 3 forty-somethings by this time next year.
The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the worst by far. It’s rulings are overturned frequently. The only way I’d challenge there was if there was no other choice.
Here’s an interesting article on the subject of overturned cases.
They try to defend the 9th, but I think they fail at it.
They compare it’s overturn rate of 86% with other courts at 100%, but then admit other courts may only have one or two cases under review during a given year.
The 86% rate is a dead give away that the 9th has far more.
Think of it this way. If the 9th had just 1-5 cases reviewed, the overturn rates would have to be in 100%, 50%, 33%, 25%, or 20% increments.
A 14% increment would indicate at least seven cases, perhaps even 14.
The 9th is a vile court. Trump is on his way to repairing that court though.
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