Arguments put forward to support ethanol and other biofuels hold water like sieves – leaking billions of gallons of precious fresh water that are required to produce this expensive, unsustainable energy.
These and other renewable energy programs may have originated for the best of intentions. However, the assumptions underlying those intentions are questionable, at best, and many are rooted in anti-hydrocarbon worldviews and Club of Rome strategies that raised the specter of “looming disasters” like resource depletion and catastrophic manmade global warming, in which the “real enemy” is “humanity itself.” They also underscore how hard it is to alter policies and programs once they have been launched by Washington politicians, creating armies of special interests, lobbyists and campaign contributors.
A review of biofuel justifications shows why these programs must be revised, cut back – or scrapped.
* Renewable fuels will prevent oil depletion and reduce imports. Baloney. U.S. oil and natural gas were declining and imports rising for decades, because environmentalists and politicians blocked leasing and drilling. The very people decrying the situation were causing it. They wanted to justify a non-hydrocarbon future that would give them greater control over our economy and living standards – and build a power base that tied them and votes to farmers and companies that benefitted from this Washington-mandated industry and wealth transfers from taxpayers and consumers to the new political power brokers.
In reality, the United States has vast storehouses of petroleum. Hydraulic fracturing alone has unlocked billions of barrels of oil equivalent energy, created 1.7 million jobs, generated hundreds of billions of dollars in economic activity and government revenues, and made America the world’s number one energy producing nation. Opening up areas that are now closed to leasing would build on this record.
This renewed production also reduced oil imports – even as increasing ethanol mandates and a persistent drought have forced the U.S. to import ethanol from Brazil. So now we’re importing oil and ethanol!
* Renewable fuels reduce carbon dioxide emissions and dangers of catastrophic climate change. Bunk. Ethanol production and use in fuels actually increases CO2 output and airborne ozone levels.
As I point out here, here and here, there is no evidence that rising CO2 levels are about to cause climate chaos. Global average temperatures have not increased in 17 years. The new NIPCC report demonstrates that human influences on our climate are small and localized, and their effects on temperature, climate and weather are almost impossible to separate from frequent, cyclical, completely natural variability.
The latest UN IPCC report deleted all references to this temperature standstill from the Summary for Policy Makers, and eliminated an IPCC graph that revealed how every single climate model predicted that average global temperatures would be up to 1.6° F higher than they actually were over the past 22 years. IPCC bureaucrats politicized the science to the point of making their report fraudulent.
* Biofuels are better for the environment. Nonsense. We are already plowing an area bigger than Iowa to grow corn for ethanol – millions of acres that could be food crops or wildlife habitat. The energy per acre is minuscule compared to what we get from oil and gas drilling, with or without fracking. To meet the latest biodiesel mandate of 1.3 billion gallons, producers will have to extract oil from 430 million bushels of soybeans – converting countless more acres from food or habitat to energy.
To produce that biofuel, we’re also using massive quantities of pesticides, fertilizers, fossil fuels – and water. The U.S. Department of Energy calculates that fracking requires 0.6 to 6.0 gallons of fresh or brackish water per million Btu of energy produced. By comparison, corn-based ethanol requires 2,500 to 29,000 gallons of fresh water per million Btu of energy – and biodiesel from soybeans consumes an astounding and unsustainable 14,000 to 75,000 gallons of water per million Btu!
* Farmers benefit from ethanol. Yes, some get rich. But beef, pork, chicken, egg, and fish producers must pay more for feed, which means family food bills go up. Biofuel mandates also mean international aid agencies must pay more for corn and wheat, so more starving people remain malnourished longer.
* Ethanol brings cheaper gas and better mileage. Nonsense. Ethanol gets 30% less mileagIt ithan gasoline, so motorists pay the same or more per tank but can drive fewer miles. It collects water, gunks up fuel lines, corrodes engine parts, and wreaks havoc on lawn mowers and other small engines. E15 fuel blends (15% ethanol) exacerbate these problems. Biodiesel and ultra-expensive biofuel for military ships and aircraft make even less sense, especially when we have at least a century of petroleum right under our feet, right here in the United States, that many “renewable” energy advocates don’t want us to touch.
* Ethanol creates jobs. Yes, spending billions in taxes that could otherwise pay for other government or private programs … and billions in extra consumer costs for energy and food … does prop up biofuel programs, until companies go bankrupt anyway. As to “Green” jobs, the Bureau of Labor Statistics defines “Green jobs” as any that make a company “more environmentally friendly” – and elsewhere includes bus drivers piloting natural gas, biofuel, or hybrid vehicles. The Solar Energy Society includes accountants, lawyers, and landscapers involved even part time with making or installing solar panels. Even burger flippers could be Green job, if they sell a meal to a truck driver who’s hauling corn to an ethanol plant.
Those capacious definitions should certainly include prosecuting attorneys and staffs going after the growing number of shady dealers who got “renewable energy tax credits” for selling fuels that were not 100% biodiesel – and others who sold fraudulent RINs (Renewable Identification Numbers) to refineries that face stiff penalties if they fail to buy mandated amounts of ethanol and blend it into gasoline.
Because gasoline consumption is down, many refineries have hit a “blend wall” – meaning the gasoline they are producing already contains as much ethanol as vehicle engines and related equipment can safely handle. However, the government still requires them to buy more corn-pone fuel – or purchase RINs or pay hefty fines. That drives up the price of RINs and creates many opportunities or the unscrupulous.
If Congress would simply let real free markets work, instead of mandating pseudo markets, much of this crime and corruption would end. Instead, it perpetuates perverse incentives, perks, and money trains – which promote what could be the Environmentalist-Industrialist-Governmentalist Complex’s motto: “We don’t tolerate corruption. We insist on it.” Outright criminal activity is merely the tip of the iceberg.
“Green slime” doesn’t just describe algae-based biofuels. It also describes the entire D.C.-mandated biofuel system. About the only thing really Green about it is the billions of dollars taken from taxpayers and consumers, and funneled to politicians, who dole the cash out to friendly constituents, who then return some of it as campaign contributions, to get the pols reelected, to perpetuate the gravy train.
Even some Democrats are finally questioning their party’s “steadfast support” for policies that promote “renewable” energy over oil and gas: Senators Ben Cardin (MD), Robert Casey (PA), Kay Hagan (NC), and several colleagues have openly expressed concern about renewable mandates. One has to wonder why so many Republicans still can’t say no to ethanol.
Here are the biggest Republican ethanol boosters. Readers may want to call or email them, to present the facts and ask them why they (and most Democrats) insist on perpetuating this wasteful system, which benefits so few, at the expense of so many.
U.S. House of Representatives. Steve King IA (202-225-4426); Tom Latham IA (-5476); John Shimkus IL (-5271); Lee Terry NE (-4155); Adam Kinzinger IL (-3635.
U.S. Senate. Roy Blunt MO (202-224-5721); John Hoven ND (-2551); John Thune SD (-2321); Lamar Alexander TN (-4944); Chuck Grassley (-3744).
It will be interesting to see how they defend their profligate and environmentally harmful ways.
Excellent info. I shall use it in my quest to use facts to fight the battle of indifference that rules the world these days. Few people even pay attention. The only way people pay attention is when it affects THEM personally. Even then people say you can’t fight the govt. People won’t talk politics or facts with me anymore because I don’t quit.
This is a great posting loaded with references about the horrible waste of tax dollars involved with biofuels. Save this article for future references. Check out these references for enough material to write a book.
Ethanol from corn and biodiesel from soy beans have driven up the prices of these commodities to the detriment of the entire world. The poor are made poorer. Soybean prices have been driven to $13 a bushel. You get 1.6 gallons of biodiesel from a bushel of soybeans. This makes the raw material cost for biodiesel over $8 per gallon. What can the cost of biodiesel be compared to the cost of $3.50 per gallon of diesel fuel from an oil well. Get Congress to repeal the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.
James H. Rust, Professor and policy adviser The Heartland Institute
I’ve been following this for years, this article is right on!
Could the author of the post list any of the secret/classified chemical concoctions that are used in fracking, or give any justification for why citizens should have to accept living with flamable water or ever-present sinkhole dangers? If not, then this whole article is a waste of time.
You’re repeating propaganda Jerry. Water mixed with gas and was flammable in a few places long before anyone started extracting energy from shale. Fracking doesn’t cause the phenomenon.
What a load of bolshevik balderdash …..
You are a load- Butler
You mother should have swallowed …
You are a piece of work Butler. Cheap shot!
Go to youtube and search for “Matt Ridley on How Fossil Fuels are Greening the Planet”. Watch at 6:05 when he says that “we use 65% less land to produce the same amount of food as we did in 1960.” To me that says that there is plenty of farmland which was under cultivation in the last 50 years and is now lying fallow. Your premiss that biofuels compete with food crops may not be entirely true. Certainly there are farmers who have the choice of growing food corn or biofuel corn and choose the latter because they will make more money. But surely there are other farmers who brought unused land back into production to grow biofuel crops.
I agree with the economics of the article, that biofuels are a horrendous waste of resources and would not exist without mandatory use regulations and producer subsidies. I just like to make sure that all my arguments are watertight and the argument that biofuels necessarily drive up food prices doesn’t hold water.
Um, and one more thought to drive the greenies wild. (I’m a conservationist myself and my political views are considerably to the left of those Americans who call themselves “liberals.” Every bushel of biofuel corn puts more money in Monsanto’s pockets. Big lol!
My neighbor just had to rebuild his lawn mower motor because he used gasoline containing ethanol. My car, a 2000 model, can not use gasoline with 15% ethanol, so I will have to by another car when this is the only fuel available.
The congressmen pushing for ethanol in gasoline are from the big corn states and, no doubt, get big campaign contributions from the corn and ethanol producers.
Meanwhile, the arctic ice cap continues to grow larger, in spite of so called global warming.
I live in a neighborhood that was subdivided before the mass production of autos. There are about ten dwellings per acre, a density that makes public transportation practical. I have not needed a motor vehicle for the last six years.