Dianne Feinstein moves to end ethanol subsidy

[Newsjock]

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

Sen. Dianne Feinstein is taking on the Farm Belt with a letter to both Senate majority leader Harry Reid and GOP leader Mitch McConnell to end ethanol subsidies, and she's getting some interesting friends on board.

Feinstein called the 54 cents-per-gallon tariff on cheap ethanol imports (read Brazil) and the 45 cents-per-gallon direct subsidy for blending ethanol with gasoline "fiscally irresponsible and environmentally unwise."

The subsidy has been blamed for fueling a giant algae bloom the size of New Jersey in the Gulf of Mexico. Economists say ethanol stands little chance of helping the U.S. achieve energy independence.

Feinstein cites a Congressional Budget Office study this year finding that the ethanol credits cost taxpayers $1.78 for each gallon of reduction in gasoline consumption.

An interesting bipartisan collection of 16 other Senators signed the letter, ranging from conservative Republican Tom Coburn (OK) to liberal Democrat Sheldon Whitehouse (RI), along with California colleague Barbara Boxer.

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/nov05election/detail?entry_id=78015&tsp=1

[joeybee12]

1. Good...nt

[xchrom]

2. hmmm - interesting. nt

[Jackpine Radical]

3. As a rural midwesterner surrounded by cornfields,

I gotta say that this is one of the few moves DiFi has made lately of which I approve.

The corn subsidy is nuts.

For starters, you know what it takes to grow corn?
Fertilizers made from fossil fuels.
Pesticides made from fossil fuels
Big fuckin tractors & corn harvesters & trucks that run on…you guessed it.

And to make corn mash into usable ethanol, you need a big fucken still.
Stills separate the alcohol from the rest of the mash by evaporation under heat.
Guess what they use for heat. Generally, propane.

For the most part, corn is just another fossil fuel.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

7. "For the most part, corn is just another fossil fuel."

What does that make beans?

[boppers]

10. Are beans getting subsidized by tax dollars to be converted to fuel?

I need my burrito subsidy for fuel conversion!

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Most big commercial food crops are largely fossil fuels.

Beans (e.g. soy beans) could easily have all the same problems if they are cultivated for fuel.

Also, using potential food crops for fuel drives up food prices on a global level, which is not good at all for developing countries.

If you stop to think about it, almost everything you get at McDonalds is corn, with some wheat & potatoes. The corn-fed beef, the HFCS in the soft drinks & syrups, the oil in which the FFs are fried--all corn.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

20. It was just a joke

sorry

[TheWraith]

13. While I agree with you on the subsidies, the argument is wrong.

Corn grown for fuel doesn't require either fertilizers or pesticides. I should know--I live constantly surrounded by "feed corn" grown for cows, which is never fertilized except by plowing raw cow manure into the ground in the sping, and never tended by the farmers that grow it.

Corn subsidies should be stopped because corn is not the best crop as far as energy density goes, and because they distort the cost effectiveness of the technology.

[Travelman]

15. Agreed on both counts.

Corn is a NASTY crop, as it is farmed right now. But it doesn't HAVE to be. And it's definitely not the best bet for energy density.

[dkf]

4. Yay for sanity.

[Imajika]

5. Excellent...

It is about time.

Ethanol subsidies have been a terrible idea.

[avaistheone1]

6. Glad to hear it.

[daa]

8. Great

Now we will see if tea baggers, Koch and ADM are serious or not.

[The Second Stone]

9. Guess DiFi wil never run for President now

Yay! I think this is probably a good idea.

[groundloop]

12. Good. Take those $$$$ and use it for actual green energy research

[kestrel91316]

14. Corn-based ethanol is fine for use on farms that grow corn. Otherwise,

it doesn't make much sense.

[IScreamSundays]

16. That's right!!

Corn Austerity Bitchez!!!!

[INdemo]

17. She needs to do some research into the grain marketing and farming

industry before she calls for this type of legislation..This would have an affect on grain prices and probably reduce marketable grain to one half of what it is now..MY advice for Feinstein... just STFU
No ethanol, less demand, lower prices...

[Owl]

18. Good.

K&R

[happygoluckytoyou]

19. CORN is good for fueling...... PIGS.... and the occasional BBQ

[maxsolomon]

21. ain't gonna happen

too much power in the hands of rural senators.

[underpants]

22. CATO (yes them) - Archer Daniels Midland obscene costs per $1 of profit

September 26, 1995

The Archer Daniels Midland Corporation (ADM) has been the most prominent recipient of corporate welfare in recent U.S. history. ADM and its chairman Dwayne Andreas have lavishly fertilized both political parties with millions of dollars in handouts and in return have reaped billion-dollar windfalls from taxpayers and consumers. Thanks to federal protection of the domestic sugar industry, ethanol subsidies, subsidized grain exports, and various other programs, ADM has cost the American economy billions of dollars since 1980 and has indirectly cost Americans tens of billions of dollars in higher prices and higher taxes over that same period. At least 43 percent of ADM's annual profits are from products heavily subsidized or protected by the American government. Moreover, every $1 of profits earned by ADM's corn sweetener operation costs consumers $10, and every $1 of profits earned by its ethanol operation costs taxpayers $30

http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-241.html

[cyr330]

23. For once I agree with that nitwit

I am not one of Feinstein's fans, but for once, I DO agree with her!!!!