By Alan Caruba ——Bio and Archives--October 13, 2012
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“Gasoline prices could be decreased instantly by President Obama if he wanted to do so. Republicans have not yet picked up on this issue.” “Abolishing the ethanol mandate requiring ethanol to be blended with gasoline at the pump or waiving the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) would:Given the enormous oil reserves in America, both domestic and offshore, there is no reason why they should not be extracted, but the environmental movement in combination with the Environmental Protection Agency, the Interior and Energy Departments, has restricted access to our own oil. The ethanol mandates are not just robbing Americans at the gas pump, they are endangering the cost of food prices worldwide Current government energy policies are a definition of insanity. © Alan Caruba, 2012“The following is reference data for skeptics. Gasoline prices can be lowered instantly by either abolishing the ethanol mandate which requires that ethanol be blended with gasoline at the pump or waiving the RFS. This would eliminate the millions of dollars in waivers which refineries are required to purchase because there is no cellulosic ethanol production, thereby decreasing the price of gasoline." "The 2012 RFS for cellulosic ethanol is 8.65 million gallons. Cellulosic ethanol production through August 2012 has been only 20,069 gallons, a shortage of 8.63 million gallons requiring $0.78 per gallon waivers.” An essential truth that few Americans are aware of is that “The price of U.S. oil is always lower than the price of foreign oil. Last year, U.S. oil averaged $95.73 per barrel, $7.25 cheaper than foreign oil imports at $102.98 per barrel. If U.S. oil replaced the 3,261 million barrels of foreign oil imports, it would be a savings to Americans of $23.6 billion annually.”
- lower gasoline prices by millions of dollars;
- result in billions of miles of free travel annually;
- prevent millions of tons of additional carbon dioxide from being emitted into the air; and
- improve national security and the energy picture since it is impossible for US ethanol to ever replace foreign oil imports.”
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Editor’s Note: Alan passed away on June 15, 2015. He will be greatly missed
Alan Caruba: A candle that goes on flickering in the dark.