For almost 30 years you have been sending your tax dollars to corporate farmers through the ethanol subsidy. Then, you’ve paid a premium at the pump since the subsidy still doesn’t make ethanol competitive. Then again at the grocery.
Archer Daniels Midland has been the most effective lobbyist in Washington for all this time. They have bought enough Congressmen over the years to keep a product on the market that never made sense. When you add up the btu’s from hydrocarbons to produce the ethanol, it’s a net energy loser. Just as ethanol was losing it’s luster, Archer Daniels Midland sold the aromatics program to Congress. Auto manufacturers were building new cars with technology that made aromatics in gasoline a moot point. Still, ADM sold the deal. For years aromatics haven’t been needed, still, it’s required. The only option other than ethanol to meet the aromatics regulations was MTBE. ADM fought a batter to get MTBE banned. Now only one option.
Then, they got the tariff to keep low-cost Brazilian ethanol from coming in.
Then, they got a mandate to have a percentage of ethanol(Bush) in gasoline by various dates. Then, they got the percentage upped(Obama, Chu). It’s called a hat trick. It’s a mandated product. It’s a subsidized product, And, it’s a protected product.(foreign competition) All that for a loser.
Now, it’s under serious attack. Not from right-thinking politicians who can’t support ADM and corporate farms any longer at the expense of the public. No, from zealous environmentalists who see ethanol as a bigger polluter than gasoline. That’s a big enough problem that ADM may lose the whole deal.
Didn’t matter that it drove up food prices. Didn’t matter that it did damage to cars. Didn’t matter that it couldn’t be shipped through efficient transportation systems(pipelines). None of that mattered.
The death knell for the ethanol subsidy won’t come from Tea Party Republicans, newly elected. It will come from the tree huggers. Fifteen farm states don’t count when you stack them up against New Yorkers, Californians, Hollywood, and the New York Times. Now, that’s clout.
But, don’t sell your ADM stock. The EPA is requiring 13.95 billion gallons of ethanol must be used next year, or 8% of U.S. fuel. If the subsidy is dropped, you will just pay at the pump instead of through ADM. It’s a clever tax increase on gasoline. But, it will be a reverse of the redistribution of income agenda of Obama. It will hit all consumers.
If I have to buy the crap, I feel better just paying extra for mine, and not having to pay for six deadbeats to get theirs free. Thanks Mr. President, thanks all you tree huggers, thanks New York Times, I knew sooner or later you would do something for me.