… the corn ethanol program?
This Twitter thread prompted the question.
https://twitter.com/SarahTaber_bww/status/151132977006315110…
You know what would drop food, fertilizer, & fuel prices overnight?
End the US ethanol program.
Here's what the US wastes on corn ethanol every year:
-5 billion tons N fertilizer.
-68 trillion BTU natural gas.
-57,000 square miles prime farmland. Not acres, SQUARE MILES.
I have been floating the idea of suspending the fuel ethanol mandate to free up farming resources to replace the wheat that is not being supplied to the world markets by Russia and Ukraine.
Sent an e-mail to my Senator about it last month…no reply received.
I demand royalties from that Twitter stream, for stealing my idea!
Steve
People who care about this issue should write to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Jaak
People who care about this issue should write to the Environmental Protection Agency.
The EPA isn’t the decider. The pols who pander to voters in Iowa drive the policy.
Steve
The farm lobby packs a lotta clout, good luck on any changes to this boondoggle.
The farm lobby packs a lotta clout, good luck on any changes to this boondoggle.
It comes down to money. If the farmers think they can make more profit growing wheat, they might be tempted.
Of course, if farmers shift to wheat, and the ethanol mandate is not suspended, then the price of corn for fuel soars and the rest of us are rogered again.
Steve
Farmers??!! More like corporations.
Do people really need to be eating more corn (and its derivative products)? I’d be subsidizing fruits & vegtables.
intercst
Do people really need to be eating more corn
IIRC, a majority goes to feed pigs.
DB2
The EPA isn’t the decider. The pols who pander to voters in Iowa drive the policy.
Steve
=======================================================
The country is not run by voters in Iowa. The President is the decider. The EPA can develop rules like they have for power plants, automobiles and many other environmental problems. If the fuel source is polluting the environment, then EPA is the only agency that has jurisdiction along with state Environmental Departments.
Jaak
The country is not run by voters in Iowa. The President is the decider. The EPA can develop rules like they have for power plants, automobiles and many other environmental problems. If the fuel source is polluting the environment, then EPA is the only agency that has jurisdiction along with state Environmental Departments.
Nope. EPA can only promulgate rules in accordance with laws passed by Congress.
The country is not run by voters in Iowa. The President is the decider.
How do you get to be POTUS? The perception is, first, win the caucuses in Iowa. How do you do that? Shower the farmers with promises of subsidies and invented markets for their products.
Steve…was on a flight that stopped in Sioux City once. There was corn growing between the taxiways
The EPA isn’t the decider. The pols who pander to voters in Iowa drive the policy.
—
The country is not run by voters in Iowa. The President is the decider.
The EPA implements the standards; the ethanol addition is required in a law passed by Congress (and signed by the President).
As Corn Devours U.S. Prairies, Greens Reconsider Biofuel Mandate
www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-07-27/as-corn-devours-u…
Environmentalists who once championed biofuels as a way to cut pollution are now turning against a U.S. program that puts renewable fuels in cars, citing higher-than-expected carbon dioxide emissions and reduced wildlife habitat. More than a decade after conservationists helped persuade Congress to require adding corn-based ethanol and other biofuels to gasoline, some groups regret the resulting agricultural runoff in waterways and conversion of prairies to cropland – improving the odds that lawmakers might seek changes to the program next year.
“The big green groups that got invested in biofuels are tacitly realizing the blunder,” said John DeCicco, a research professor at the University of Michigan Energy Institute who previously focused on automotive strategies at the Environmental Defense Fund. “It’s really hard for the people who really – shall we say – hate oil viscerally, to think that this alternative that we’ve been promoting is today worse than oil.”…
The Natural Resources Defense Council used a 96-page report in 2004 to proclaim boundless biofuel benefits: slashed global warming emissions, improved air quality and more wildlife habitat.
DB2
We get about 8% of our oil from Russia. I’m not sure that it’s a winning strategy to tell consumers who are reeling at the pumps from $4 and $5 gas that we have found a way to cut another 15% of volume from the gas supply, but we’re pretty sure it won’t affect prices.
Even ignoring the obvious political implications of Iowa and the other problem of the farm lobby which distributes mega-dollars in Washington, I’m not sure there’s ever gonna be a good time, but if there is, now isn’t it.
There was corn growing between the taxiways
Really? That would invite birds. Birds and airplanes do not commingle in a copacetic capacity.
AJ
I believe one of the minuses would be that we’d have to go back to using something like MTBE as a fuel additive. So maybe ethanol isn’t the greatest thing, but it doesn’t pollute groundwater like MTBE did.
I’m not sure that it’s a winning strategy to tell consumers who are reeling at the pumps from $4 and $5 gas that we have found a way to cut another 15% of volume from the gas supply, but we’re pretty sure it won’t affect prices.
The energy density of ethanol is less that gas, so pure gasoline would improve their gas mileage. Pure gasoline is less corrosive, so less fuel system deterioration. The energy balance of ethanol, energy of the ethanol out, vs the nat gas and diesel that goes into planting, tending, harvesting, and distilling has always been disputed. And, last time I checked, ethanol is too corrosive to put through pipelines. It is shipped by tank truck or train, so that’s more diesel burned just to move the stuff around.
In order to get a reasonable estimate on how much fuel efficiency differs with standard E10 as opposed to non-ethanol gasoline, we filled our Six-Month Road Test Hyundai Veloster with non-ethanol, 92-octane premium gasoline, from Olson Brothers in Milwaukie, Oregon—found via pure-gas.org—and drove for 204 miles in all, including about 50 miles of suburban and urban stop-and-go and about 150 miles of steady-speed expressway driving, mostly at 65-70 mph.
We’ve spent so much time with the Veloster in these conditions that we know it would return between 33 and 34 miles per gallon. But with this tank the trip computer showed nearly 37 mpg.
https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1080393_on-pure-gasolin…
Steve
The EPA isn’t the decider. The pols who pander to voters in Iowa drive the policy.
Maybe this is a question Steve can answer. If another state, say Michigan, went first what would they lobby for?
Michigan Democrats to lobby to be first in 2024 presidential contest
www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2022/04/05/michigan-2024-pre…
DB2
Maybe this is a question Steve can answer. If another state, say Michigan, went first what would they lobby for?
Ag is very diversified in Michigan. Plenty of corn, but lots of other veggies, fruit, vineyards and orchards too, and a very large tourism industry.
If the folks outstate had it their way, it would be national “Constitutional carry” ie completely unregulated gun ownership, no restrictions on the type of firearm, no licenses, no registrations, no background checks. Decide to buy a gun this morning, and be shooting down folks on the street the same day.
Incident in the Detroit burbs a day ago: perps driving by, shooting at a house, for no apparent reason. The local news ran the house security camera footage. AKs are loud. Police confirmed 7.62mm shell casings found. Video at the link.
6 assault rifle shots fired from car speeding past Redford Township home
https://www.clickondetroit.com/news/local/2022/04/06/chillin…
…because the NRA assures us the cure for gun violence, in every case, is always more guns.
Michigan ranks 38th, with only 40% of the population owning guns.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/state-rankings/gun-ownersh…
Steve
Do people really need to be eating more corn
IIRC, a majority goes to feed pigs.
Some would say that’s a distinction without a difference. 