DISQUS

DISQUS Hello! The Iowa Independent is using DISQUS, a powerful comment system, to manage its comments. Learn more.

Community Page

The Iowa Independent

Iowa's top online-only news outlet
Jump to original thread »
Author

GOP platform calls for end to ethanol mandate

Started by CIM Network · 10 months ago

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- Republicans unanimously passed a platform on Monday that calls for the federal government to end a mandate that gasoline contain a set amount of ethanol, but Iowa Republicans say they oppose the proposal. ... Continue reading »

4 comments

  • Thanks for throwing Midwest farmers and there familys under the Bus GOP.
  • “We get 5 percent of fuel for our vehicles from renewables, and if we didn’t we’d be getting 5 percent more from foreign oil,” he said. “It would be sending billions of dollars more to Arabs, and I just don’t think that’s good economic security. It’s not national security, it’s not good foreign policy.”

    Not only that but ethanol content in gasoline has to be standardized because auto makers have to know the percent of ethanol in passenger vehicle fuel to properly design their engines for efficiency and cleanliness. Imagine if you could fuel up at Citgo, but not at BP, or if there were different blends of fuel the consumer had to choose from depending on what types of fuel their vehicle's engine can use. It would be a mess, and really doesn't make any sense. Big oil is so big, that if government never steps in to promote renewable sources of fuel, the oil companies will never do it, and we will still be a petroleum based economy by the next century, with way too much carbon in the atmosphere.
  • Why can Brazil ship us sugar cane derived ethanol so cheaply that we have to impose a tariff. Perhaps corn based ethanol isn't the best way to do this. Ron Paul had an interesting idea. With hemp seed giving the highest yield per acre of high grade oil (substantially better than corn or soybean) then wouldn't that be the logical choice for ethanol production. I realize that logic has no place in an election cycle but this is clearly the better solution.
  • And if you want to cut down fewer trees then all the hemp fiber makes excellent paper. America usually doesn't turn down win-win situations but the drug war is, of course, different.
Please login to comment.
Returning? Login