Trump Offers Consumers No Relief From Misguided Ethanol Mandates
https://www.realclearenergy.org/articles/2018/10/23/trump_offers_consumers_no_relief_from_misguided_ethanol_mandates_110355.htmlOctober 23, 2018
In his proposal to lift restrictions on year-round sales of gasoline with higher blends of ethanol, President Trump argued that, corn farmers and renewable fuel producers need new market opportunities and sources of demand.
But the latest ethanol plan looks a lot like previous ethanol plans: ramp up production of ethanol despite concerns that it leads to more air pollution, degrades water quality, and destroys prairie by encouraging the production of corn.
Missing from Trump’s plan was any explanation of how motorists would gain from gasoline with higher blends of ethanol. The vast majority of cars on the road are not designed to use E15, which can damage engines and fuel systems.
At its inception, the ethanol program was promoted as a means to reduce the nation’s reliance on foreign oil. The thinking was, let’s replace oil with homegrown corn ethanol. But that was back in 2005, when U.S. dependence on imported oil had reached 60.3 percent of US oil consumption and politicians were warning that the level of imports would continue to rise as domestic resources dwindled. They were wrong.
Instead, domestic oil production has boomed over the past ten years and imports are down to 19 percent, thanks in large part to technological innovations that have enabled companies to produce hard-to-reach oil and natural gas in shale formations. The U.S. is now the world’s No. 1 oil and gas producer.
You’d think the Administration would have scaled back the ethane mandate to reflect the reality of reduced imports. Yet the Renewable Fuel Standard, which sets volumetric requirements for ethanol, rising to 36 billion gallons in 2022, has remained intact. The new change would allow summer gasoline to contain more ethanol – potentially up to 15 percent. This market-distorting policy will harm American consumers and taxpayers....
