What do ethanol mandates, corn prices, and renewable identification numbers have in common? The answer is the Renewable Fuel Standard that was first passed in 2005 and then increased in 2007 when the Energy Security and Independence Act was enacted, requiring specified annual amounts of corn-based and cellulosic ethanol to be produced and blended into gasoline. The outcome of this poorly conceived legislation is skyrocketing corn and food prices, a blend wall where ethanol blended into...
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A company that received lavish subsidies to build a cellulosic ethanol plant in Michigan recently lost a major private-sector investor. Mascoma Corp.[i] must now look elsewhere for funding its ethanol facility in Kinross, Michigan, after news that Valero Energy Corp. is withdrawing its $50 million dollar investment. Mascoma, a New Hampshire-based renewable fuels company, received nearly $120 million in federal and state grants for its $233 million project[ii] , yet construction of the plant...
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Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen penned an op-ed in USA TODAY last week in which he offered several misleading claims about ethanol and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Dinneen’s piece preceded a USA TODAY editorial calling on Congress to repeal the RFS. Some of Dinneen’s most misleading statements are addressed below. CLAIM: “Since it was enacted in 2005, U.S. dependence on imported oil has decreased from 60% to 40% largely because of biofuels.”  FACT:...
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Woods (Dynegy), Spitzer (Steptoe), Naeve (Skadden), Santa (INGAA), Kelliher (NextEra), Kelly (Akin Gump), Bailey (Cheniere), Moler (Exelon pensioner), Brownell (Comverge or Spectra, whichever you prefer). Say what you want, these people have vested interests that are very much involved with who might be the next Chairman of FERC. So let's not kid anyone about why they signed that letter. PoliticoPro (8/16/13) reports: "When a dozen former FERC commissioners lined up last week to defend...
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In my recent testimony to the Senate Environmental and Public Works committee, I explained that (among its other problems) the Obama Administration’s Working Group on climate change had explicitly ignored the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) guidelines stating that cost/benefit analyses had to be conducted using both a 3 percent and a 7 percent discount rate. Rather than following these instructions, the Working Group chose to report its estimate of the “social cost of carbon” at...
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You got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em...

The Boston Globe  (8/9/13) reports: “A group of environmentalists has dropped its campaign to place a so-called carbon tax on the next statewide ballot, citing the complexity of the issue, weak fund-raising, and potential constitutional challenges to the question. The group, the Committee for a Green Economy , had hoped to place a question on the 2014 ballot asking voters to approve a new tax on gasoline, heating oil, and other...
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Question: Would Warren & Co. go all in on wind if they weren't able to feed themselves greedily from the public coffers?  

The Daily Caller  (8/13/13) reports: “A subsidiary of the Warren Buffett-owned MidAmerican Energy Holdings is looking to capitalize on federal tax subsidies by installing 448 wind turbines across five Iowa counties in order to generate up to 1,050 megawatts of power by 2015. Construction on the wind farms is scheduled to begin next month, meaning MidAmerican will...
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Watch as the RFS advocates come crawling to Washington and beg them to prop up their industry by forcing you to buy their product. 

Fox News  (8/13/13) reports “Only in Washington can an expensive, unnecessary regulation be considered common sense. The Obama administration is digging in its heels when it comes to repealing harmful energy regulations that increase consumer costs with little benefit to the environment. The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is a classic example of hugely...
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Broken promises. SEC investigations. Empty lots. No product. In other words, pretty standard stuff for anything with the word "Green" in it.

The Washington Post  (8/10/13) reports: “Just off the legendary Highway 61, where crop-dusters perform acrobatics above billboards for Mississippi Delta casinos, is the place where Virginia gubernatorial candidate Terry McAuliffe pledged to build a $60 million factory for his electric-car company. On a recent summer day, a bird was skittering over...
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Growth Energy, an ethanol industry group, issued a misleading statement yesterday in response to news that refiners requested a partial waiver of the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The headline reads, “Big Oil Files Waiver to Cap Ethanol, Block Free Market Competition.” There is nothing “free market” about requiring someone to purchase a product, but that is exactly what Growth Energy claims. The RFS requires refiners to blend increasing amounts of ethanol into gasoline, with...
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