WASHINGTON — The American Energy Alliance begins today the second phase of a $750,000 initiative with a series of radio advertisements holding Members of Congress accountable for supporting a carbon tax and thanking those who have opposed one. This phase of the initiative will include two weeks of radio spots in Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and New York. The ads urge listeners to contact Representatives Bruce Braley (D-Iowa), Cheri Bustos (D- Ill.), Ann...
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WASHINGTON — The American Energy Alliance was joined today by thirteen other free-market organizations in a letter to the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, calling on committee members to oppose the confirmation of Ron Binz as Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by taking a "principled stand against the costly energy future that he represents." In recent weeks, growing concerns about how the Obama Climate Action Plan and a potential Binz...
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An old adage often attributed to Mark Twain identifies three kinds of lies: “lies, damned lies, and statistics.” In a recent blog post, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) shows why this axiom stands the test of time. NRDC claims that “AB 32 , [the California Global Warming Solutions Act] including the Low Carbon Fuel Standard, will save California consumers and businesses $50 billion over the next decade in fuel costs.” This statement is not just misleading, it is just...
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WASHINGTON -- The American Energy Alliance responded today to a series of letters from a Washington D.C. law firm representing Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) who complains that a current advertisement sponsored by AEA "mischaracterizes" the senator's past support for carbon tax legislation and threatens legal action for the continued airing of the ads. On Sept. 5, 2013, attorneys with Perkins Coie, LLP, notified station managers in Alaska that continued airing of AEA's ad, entitled "Games," could...
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On these pages we have already described the absurdity of the EPA’s cellulosic ethanol mandate, which is literally impossible for refiners to satisfy. EPA’s 2013 mandate was based on their projections of the cellulosic ethanol output coming from two particular plants, one of them being a KiOR plant based in Columbus, Mississippi. Yet unfortunately for refiners—who will face penalties for not obeying the mandate—KiOR missed its second-quarter production forecast by a whopping 75...
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Fuels America trotted out a series of stale, debunked talking points in a recent advertising campaign extolling the virtues of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This is one of the latest attempts by the ethanol lobby to conceal the truth about ethanol as Congress considers changing or repealing the federal ethanol mandate, which requires refiners to blend greater and greater amounts of ethanol into gasoline. The Institute for Energy Research (IER) has compiled a list of claims and...
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WASHINGTON — The American Energy Alliance begins tomorrow a new $750,000 initiative with a series of radio and television advertisements holding Members of Congress accountable for their votes on the controversial issue of a carbon tax. The first phase of the initiative will include two weeks of statewide broadcast and cable television spots targeting Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) and statewide radio spots targeting Sen. Kay Hagan (D-N.C.). Other efforts will be announced in the coming...
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Growth Energy recently unveiled a national ad campaign to tell “the truth about ethanol” and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)—the federal mandate that requires oil refiners to blend ethanol into gasoline. But the ethanol lobby has a curious definition of “truth,” as many of their claims are incomplete, misleading, or outright false. NASCAR doesn’t use ethanol because it is a “high performance” fuel, but because it is “product placement” Graphic from Growth Energy: ...
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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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