NOT THE SHARPEST KNIVES IN THE DRAWER: This Rule Was Made To Be Broken
Big Government routinely promulgates a plethora of regulations that are onerous to follow. The Environmental Protection Agency has managed to impose a government regulation that is impossible for gasoline refiners and consumers not to run afoul of. The Wall Street Journal explains:
The 2007 energy bill … included mandates for cellulosic ethanol. … At the time, no such fuels were being produced on a commercial scale, but cellulosic producers and the green lobby assured Congress they were just about to turn the corner, and both the Bush and Obama Administration furnished handsome subsidies.
The EPA set the 2011 standard at six million gallons. Reality hasn't cooperated. Zero gallons have been produced in the last six months and the corner isn't visible over the next six months either. …
In its wisdom, Congress decided that some companies should be penalized … But they're not the companies that importuned the government for mandates and corporate welfare. They're the U.S. oil refiners that make gasoline, which will end up buying six million cellulosic waivers by year's end at $1.13 a pop. That's $6.78 million in higher costs at the pump, in return for nothing.
Cellulosic ethanol has become a zombie mandate, and the amount of the non-existent stuff refiners are required to use automatically increases every year – meaning the fines for not following the EPA regulation will increase, too. Next on the EPA’s to-do list, suggests The Journal, is to “find someone to tax for the lack of unicorns.”
I had noticed the lack of unicorns and considering how many had been promised in '08, I think we can lay the responsibility right at Obama's door.
However, you must realize the revenue generating potential here. Tax people for the deficit in Hope (taking our last Change.) Here's hoping Pelosi does not read WSJ.
Maybe the House can pass a bill to punish the people who have not sold any such ethanol to the oil refiners.
Actually the refineries should take this one to court. The idea that law can impose literally impossible standards is deadly and needs to be ended. Now.
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