The API,( American Petroleum Institute) the most ineffective lobbying group in the history of America, is suing the EPA, currently the most incompetent agency in the history of America. Here’s the story:
“The American Petroleum Institute has sued the Environmental Protection Agency, challenging the agency’s requirement that refiners use cellulosic biofuels or pay a fee. The problem: the biofuels don’t actually exist – there was no commercial supply available in 2011, the institute asserts.
Calling the EPA requirement “unattainable and absurd,” Bob Greco, the institute’s director of downstream and industry operations, said in a news release that the mandate is “effectively an added tax on gasoline manufacturers that could ultimately burden consumers.”
The institute sued the EPA in U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit July 24, asking that the court strike the regulation. In May, the EPA denied the group’s petition for reconsideration of its 2011 biofuel rule.
Cellulosic biofuel is made from organic fiber such as sawdust, corn stalks and grass. Under the Renewable Fuel Standard of the Clean Air Act, the EPA is required each year to mandate the volume of biofuels.
The statute set the minimum at 250 million gallons. In a 2010 Federal Register notice, the EPA lowered it to 6 million gallons, calling this “a reasonable projection of the potential 2011 cellulosic production volume.”
The projection turns out to have been overly optimistic – according to data on the EPA’s website, there was no commercially available fuel in 2011. That meant refiners must pay EPA for biofuel waiver credits in lieu of the fuel. Credits cost $1.13 per gallon.
The institute, which represents more than 500 companies involved in all aspects of the oil and natural gas industry, stresses that it has nothing against using cellulosic biofuels. What the group wants is for EPA to set targets based on at least two months of actual cellulosic biofuel production. “This approach would provide a more realistic assessment of potential future production rather than simply relying on the assertions of companies whose ability to produce the cellulosic biofuel volumes EPA hopes for is questionable,” according to the institute.
The group also filed suit challenging EPA’s 2012 cellulosic biofuels requirements earlier this year.”
Combine this with a comment from a loyal reader:
“Ah well, at least it’s not like the Navy is buying 450,000 gallons of oil derived from algae at ridiculous prices. True, 21,000 gallons cost only $424 a gallon. But with economies of scale the price has plummeted to “only” $26.67/gallon. It’s a little hard to find a good recent price for bunker C oil that is typically used in large Navy ships, best I could do is from about 2008, but it was when crude prices were high or higher than today, and bunker C was about $2.30 / gallon.
Money well spent, to save the world.
Who saves the world from limousine liberals and their CO2 spewing global warming conferences?”
Isn’t Obama cute? He requires refiners to buy a product that doesn’t exist and pay a tax for not buying a non-existent product. A pass through to your gasoline pump. Then he requires the US Navy to buy a product that cost $20 a gallon from your tax dollars. A product they could buy for $2.
Obama’s EPA is run by people who couldn’t spell cat if you spotted them two letters.
If you want to stop the insanity, you need to get everyone you know to vote in November.