Cellulosic ethanol…you can’t make this stuff up

Cellulosic ethanol, at least as defined by the EPA, is any ethanol made from plant material that is not corn.  This is good because we are currently turning approximately 40% of our corn production into ethanol, thus driving up the cost of virtually everything we eat.  However, it is bad for oil refiners, and you, in the long run, but you will never guess why.

The 2007 Energy Bill passed by Congress not only demanded that ever increasing amounts of corn ethanol be blended into our gasoline, but it also demanded that cellulosic ethanol be blended into our gasoline.  This year, the EPA required that oil refiners blend 6 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol into gasoline.

So far, so good.

But, there is a small problem.  So far this year, manufacturers of cellulosic ethanol, who, by the way, have been heavily subsidized by your tax dollar, have produced…nothing.

The EPA has only approved a single plant to sell the stuff…but it shut down its cellulosic operations earlier this year to work through technical snafus.

Given these facts, any rational administration would simply suspend this mandate until we actually produced cellulosic ethanol.  Not the EPA.

As a result of their failure to blend a non-existent material into gasoline, the EPA has “allowed” oil refiners to obtain “waivers”… it will cost them $1.13 for each gallon of the non-existent cellulosic ethanol they failed to blend.  This cost will, of course be passed on to you, the consumer.

Next year, the EPA is proposing we blend up to 15.7 million gallons of  so far non-existent cellulosic ethanol into our gasoline, and, I would suppose that there will be more “waivers” available for a price.

Wait a minute, this could work. 

All we need to do is have the EPA mandate 80 gazillion gallons of non-existent stuff be blended into gasoline, or, the oil refiners will pay a penalty of $1.13 for each non-existent gallon.

Deficit problem solved.

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SoundOffSister

The Sound Off Sister was an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of Florida, and special trial attorney for the Department of Justice, Criminal Division; a partner in the Florida law firm of Shutts & Bowen, and an adjunct professor at the University of Miami, School of Law. The Sound Off Sister offers frequent commentary concerning legislation making its way through Congress, including the health reform legislation passed in early 2010.

7 Comments

  1. TomL on July 16, 2011 at 10:09 am

    Only in this administration can this happen. I suppose the non existent cellulosic producers will get a subsidy for the gallons they didn’t produce.



  2. sammy22 on July 16, 2011 at 11:23 am

    Congress could stop the EPA w/ legislation, but they are too busy doing “you now what”. But, why wasn’t the 2007 Energy Bill vetoed?



  3. TomL on July 16, 2011 at 11:37 am

    Obama could issue an executive order extending the deadline.



  4. Law-AbidingCitizen on July 17, 2011 at 8:30 am

    “Deficit problem solved”? Hardly! the consumer, you and me, are the ones who are stuck paying for the arrogance of this administration. The “failure” of the supposed producers of this “non-existent cellulosic?ethanol” are not out one dime — they are still getting the subsidy!!
    The this is a huge con game. Just who are BOs (our “president”) friends in the chemistry business? BO is smarmy, to be polite.? He is running the country like it is one big give-away for his friends and his interests. Screw any notion of his actions being good for the country. It is all about BO and his getting re-elected.? All this so he can force his socialist philosophies onto the country using our money.



  5. Lynn on July 18, 2011 at 7:41 am

    Do you think someone should tell the Czars that they wear No clothes.



  6. Tim-in-Alabama on July 18, 2011 at 8:52 am

    Cellulosic ethanol has been discovered by Algore to reduce the amount of harmful substances emanating from the penumbra of most automobiles.



  7. Don Lombardo on July 18, 2011 at 11:19 am

    Get rid of the EPA.



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