The EPA recently released updated Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) data showing Renewable Identification Number (RIN) generation for the month of September. A RIN is a 38-digit number assigned to a gallon of ethanol that refiners use to demonstrate compliance with the RFS. The updated data show, once again, that the EPA’s mandate for the use of cellulosic biofuel is woefully out of touch with actual production levels. The 2013 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) requires that refiners blend 6...
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WASHINGTON -- The American Energy Alliance joined today with over 100 organizations from across the nation in opposition to the wind Production Tax Credit (PTC). The organizations released a letter urging Congress to allow the wind PTC to expire. The letter states:
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The following is IER's response to the National Journal Energy Insiders question, "Is the (Energy) Price Right?" Especially since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Western intellectuals and government officials have acknowledged the flaws in top-down central planning, and have paid lip service to the wonders of a decentralized market process in determining prices and the allocation of resources. Yet as our recent policy debates illustrate, the central planner mentality is alive and well in...
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In a letter to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, members of Congress are urging the EPA to reduce the required biofuel volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2014. The letter, signed by more than 150 members from both parties, correctly points out that the RFS is a flawed policy, based on faulty assumptions, that hurts the economy and the environment:

“Unfortunately, despite the best intentions of the RFS, its premise and structure were based on many assumptions that no longer...

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[caption id="attachment_1696" align="alignright" width="300"] Image: Flickr/snake.eyes[/caption] Yesterday, AAA called on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lower the 2014 ethanol mandates under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). AAA’s statement comes in response to a recently leaked draft copy of the EPA’s 2014 requirements, in which the agency weighs decreasing the total biofuel mandate. EPA’s leaked draft proposes reducing the total renewable fuel requirement to 13...
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The proponents of a carbon tax claim that it is a “market-based” approach to curbing so-called “negative externalities” (such as greenhouse gas emissions). They argue that a “putting a price” on carbon, for example, is far more efficient than command-and-control regulations where the government imposes its own technology choices on the energy sector. Yet in a recent article, Paul Krugman lets the cat out of the bag: He’s fine with the government just banning coal. Krugman’s...
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Reuters reports on the latest tomfoolery from Uncle Sam regarding biofuels:

The U.S. government on Monday announced $181 million in loan guarantees to build commercial-size refineries making advanced biofuels or to retrofit existing biorefineries to produce the cleaner-burning renewable fuels.

Since 2008, the Agriculture Department has provided $684 million through the Biorefinery Assistance Program to support projects in eight states. Applications for the latest round of funding are due...

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Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) offered an astute observation recently about federal ethanol policy. Speaking at a National Journal event titled, “Biofuels Mandate: Defend, Reform, or Repeal ,” Welch pointed out that the ethanol industry has benefited from a “trifecta” of preferential federal policies: subsidies, tariffs, and mandates. Beyond wasting taxpayer funds, these policies have real, harmful effects on the American people. We’ll explain each policy and address their impacts,...
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There are many problems with the standard case for a carbon tax, including very dubious assumptions in the computer models used to calibrate the so-called “social cost of carbon.” Yet even if we put aside all of those principled objections, the way that the Obama Administration in practice has tried to clamp down on greenhouse gas emissions is alarming. Susan Dudley, Brian Manix, and Sofie Miller spell out the problems in a recent Reuters article . With the failure of efforts to...
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In a recent op-ed for The Hill, Ron Lamberty of the American Coalition for Ethanol likens the federal ethanol mandate to “A Christmas Story,” a classic American film about a boy who wants Santa to give him a Red Ryder BB gun for Christmas. The analogy isn’t far from the truth. In 2005, Congress gifted Big Ethanol its version of Ralphie’s Red Ryder BB gun—a federal mandate that requires Americans to purchase their products. Indeed, the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) has been a gift...
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