Energy Week in Review
Headlines and commentary for the week ending March 15, 2013.
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Thank Bipartisan Committee Work for Corporate Welfare in Tax Bill
Throughout the tax debate, we heard righteous indignation from both parties regarding the need to close up special interest loopholes in the tax code. Yet the special interest loopholes were the only items preserved in the cliff tax bill. The entire package of over $40 billion in corporate subsidies and green social engineering was taken from a Senate Finance Committee Bill, which unfortunately, was supported | Read More »
The Military is Not the Place for Green Social Engineering
Morale for our soldiers is the lowest it’s been in decades. Instead of providing our troops with the best equipment and a decisive mission, we are sullying them with egregious rules of engagement, the homosexual agenda, sensitivity training, and other social engineering activities. There is one more burden that Obama has added to their list of problems; green energy mobiles! One of the most preposterous | Read More »
Obama’s EPA Continues Handouts for Rich Ethanol Farmers on the Backs of Consumers
Nothing exemplifies the failure of Republicans to communicate more than the exit polling data regarding the public’s perception of the cost of living. A whopping 37% of voters selected ‘rising prices’ as their most important issue in the election, yet amazingly, they split their votes evenly between Romney and Obama. Hence, the arsonist behind the high prices for food, fuel, healthcare, and every other vital | Read More »
Voters Want Less Government. Will GOP Communicate to Them?
Amidst the torrent of polling data on an array of political races and policy issues, it is easy to lose focus on the central point of contention in today’s world of politics. The fundamental disagreement between the right and the left is over the proper role of government. The left feels that government should control virtually every aspect of our economy and our lives – | Read More »
Romney Must Cease and Desist From Ethanol Mandate
Earlier today, Mitt Romney unveiled his comprehensive energy plan he will pursue as president. Energy policy provides Republicans with their most potent weapon against Obama in this campaign. Nothing emblematizes Obama’s socialist, anti-prosperity style of governance more than his destructive energy policy compromised of a “none-of-the-above” approach. Well, none of the above except for green energy. To that end, Romney’s biggest ace in the hole | Read More »
The Ethanol Chickens Come Home to Roost
After a year full of victories for big government legislation in Congress, the forces of statism seemed to have met their Waterloo with the farm/food stamp bill. The more people learned of the profligate food stamp spending and the market distorting, risk-inducing agriculture programs contained in the bill, the more they spoke out against this monstrosity. Speaker Boehner has refused to bring the bill to | Read More »
EPA Mandates Use of Nonexistent Fuel Blend
It’s bad enough that government regulations and environmental legal defense groups have prevented us from building oil refineries for over 30 years. It’s even worse when the existing ones are forced to blend fuel mixtures that don’t exist. We are all painfully aware of the Soviet style mandate that requires 10% of petroleum to be comprised of ethanol. This unconstitutional mandate has killed jobs, driven | Read More »
Let Farmers Buy the Farm, Not Taxpayers
There is perhaps nothing as destructive to the free market as the federal government’s stranglehold over the agriculture sector. There is also nothing as detrimental to the GOP’s ability to draw a bold contrast on free markets, dependency, spending, and crony capitalism, as their willingness to support 5-year farm bills. Current farm policy creates inveterate dependency in some of the most conservative corners of the | Read More »
Dick Lugar Haunts the Free Market from the Grave
You might have thought that we vanquished Dick Lugar from the levers of power a few weeks ago. But if nothing is done to stop the impending 5-year Farm Bill, he might harm us with his regressive policies long past his time in Washington. Last month, the Senate Agriculture Committee passed a 5-year farm bill that continues to serve as one of the most potent | Read More »
Tags: Biofuels, crony capitalism, Dick Lugar, Energy, ethanol, farm bill, free market, kent conrad, Senate, Subsidies, welfare
Post-Mortem for the Ethanol Tax Credit
A couple of weeks back, my boss asked a question that I could not immediately answer: The ethanol tax credit expired on December 31. The price of ethanol should have gone up afterward. Did it? How much has that affected the price of gasoline? I turned to my friends at the American Petroleum Institute for help. Their surprising answer, in part: API declined to answer | Read More »
Our Dangerous Dependence on Foreign Chocolate
From the diaries. America is addicted to chocolate. Foreign chocolate. A majority of us consume chocolate each day. Although the U.S. produces only 6% of the world’s cocoa, we consume more than 20%. The threat is obvious. It’s time for government to step in and promote alternatives. Any day, President Obama will be barnstorming the country to tell us, “If we really want chocolate security | Read More »
Quash the Ethanol Beast in Honor of Iowa Caucuses
As the clock struck 12 am January 1, one of the most anti free market government interventions expired without renewal and without fanfare. In honor of the Iowa Caucuses, we can now declare that the ethanol subsidies and tariffs are finally dead. However, before we celebrate this rare piece of good news, we must remember that in order to deracinate the ethanol beast from our | Read More »
Oh, by the way, ethanol subsidies are dead.
Details here and here: the short version is that the Senate back in June kicked off opposition to continued ethanol subsidies via a bipartisan amendment: it didn’t pass, but Congress has just let both the ethanol subsidy and a restrictive foreign tariff (on Brazilian sugar-cane ethanol) lapse. Given that the Iowa caucuses will be finished by the time Congress reconvenes – and given that the | Read More »
EPA should consider American drivers, not special interests
Decisions about our fuel standards are not inconsequential. They move forward an agenda that rewards some energy sectors while punishing others, and at the same time, moves taxpayer dollars right along with those rules and subsidies. Under the current requirements of the Clean Air Act, the EPA can certify a new fuel for the marketplace as long as it does not increase emissions. As a | Read More »
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