Friday - August 09, 2013

EPA Still Dreaming, But More Realistically

The Environmental Protection Agency will require oil refiners to blend 16.55 billion gallons of renewable fuels into the nation’s gasoline supply this year as part of its efforts to spur new fuel technology and decrease fossil fuel dependence.

Nearly eight months past the legal due date, the EPA announced its yearly blending targets under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on Tuesday. Renewable fuel associations applauded the announcement, but the oil and gas industry criticized the agency for continuing to push a “broken” system.

The EPA’s blending requirements include 6 million gallons of the cellulosic biofuel, which is made from woodchips. That number is down from the 14 million gallons called for in January.

The cellulosic biofuel requirement has angered the oil industry for years because, until this year, there was no commercial production of the advanced fuel in the country.

The EPA targets will require a total of 36 billion gallons of biofuel to be blended by 2022.

Republican lawmakers in Congress have also targeted the RFS system, saying it artificially inflates prices for corn and increases costs for livestock facilities.

“RFS announcement fails to provide immediate relief for livestock/food producers, small biz & consumers,” Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R., Va.) tweeted Tuesday. “It’s time to repeal the RFS.”

The industry has also warned that the requirements are forcing refiners close to a “blend wall,” the point where cars cannot handle the level of ethanol or it is undesirable for consumers.

This gasohol crap is just the pits. Stupid stupid stupid. Not only does it jack up the price of gas, it significantly lowers the MPG of all vehicles using it. You can’t fool science: alcohol has less energy than gasoline, so any blended mix requires more to make the same amount of power. Period. My car gets 2-3mpg more on those increasingly rare occasions when I can find some actual real gasoline to put in the tank.

And since we now seem to have a huge abundance of frakkable shale oil, what’ the damn point? Yeah, I blame Bush for this BS. And I blame Obongo for keeping it going, along with every pansy-ass dickhead in DC. Kill the program. Period. Kill the subsidy. Period. Farmers growing too much corn? Turn it into masa flour and use that for foreign aid. Screw sending the poor and starving’s dictators billions in cash that they’ll only spend on Ray-Bans and Paris apartments, send them food. Nothing but food. And maybe some water filtration systems. Maybe.

I wonder if (hahahahaha, “if") those TWO wood chip stills running will be able to turn out those 6 million gallons.

KiOR’s biorefinery in Columbus, Mississippi started commercial production in March using wood chips to produce cellulosic fuels, and Ineos just announced on July 31 that their Indian River BioEnergy plant in Florida has begun operations to make biofuels from plant waste. Both of these are now operating at full commercial scale. Whether they’re making money yet, we don’t know, but the fact that they’re producing large volumes of cellulosic biofuels may be a historic turning point. These developments are important steps towards developing a real advanced biofuel industry that can help move us toward a point where we have other options for how to fuel our cars and trucks.

Production goals for both these plants are rather optimistic at this point. And, just like windmills and solar panels, I wonder if either could survive an hour without massive subsidies and tax breaks.

Posted by Drew458     on 08/09/2013 at 10:16 AM   
Filed Under: • Oil, Alternative Energy, and Gas Prices •  
• Comments (1) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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