Farmers will love this decision. Betcha we don't get one of them against it.
However, it shows the deception of selling something that does the complete opposite of what they are pretending it will do.
Adding ethanol to fuel causes lower mileage that is GREATER than the price savings.......absolute proven science. Ethanol fuel has much less energy than unleaded.
So doing this will cause consumers to spend MORE for gas. It also causes more REAL pollution in the Summer.
Here's the proof(the test below was actually done with 85% ethanol, not 15% but that's what makes it so good at showing the truth). At just 15%, one could make a case that some other factors might have contributed. At 85%, the main factor, by a wide margin IS THE ETHANOL!
https://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy/e85-vs-gasoline-comparison-test.html
Gas Result:
From San Diego to Las Vegas and back, we used 36.5 gallons of regular gasoline and achieved an average fuel economy of 18.3 mpg.
We spent $124.66 for gasoline for the trip. The average pump price was $3.42 per gallon.
From San Diego to Las Vegas and back we used 50 gallons of E85 and achieved an average fuel economy of 13.5 mpg.
We spent $154.29 on ethanol for the trip. The average pump price was $3.09 per gallon.
The fuel economy of our Tahoe on E85 under these conditions was 26.5 percent worse than it was on gas.
A motorist filling up and comparing the prices of regular gas and E85 might see the price advantage of ethanol (in our case 33 cents, or 9.7 percent, less) as a bargain. However, since fuel economy is significantly reduced, the net effect is that a person choosing to run a flex-fuel vehicle on E85 on a trip like ours will spend 22.8 percent more to drive the same distance. For us, the E85 trip was about $30 more expensive — about 22.9 cents per mile on E85 versus 18.7 cents per mile with gasoline.
E15 WILL cause consumers to spend MORE on fuel with 100% certainty. I don't care who says it doesn't make a difference.
Unless it caused the gas prices to drop 25c+, which it won't, it means hitting consumers with absolute additional costs and tricking them into thinking they did it to save people money.
This is extremely offensive to people that know this is what they are doing and aren't tied into profiting personally or politically.
It also causes MORE REAL POLLUTION, especially in the Summer.
https://www.kxly.com/i/what-are-the-pros-and-cons-of-e15-gas-heres-what-to-know-about-bidens-order/
“But even if it doesn’t feel like real relief, De Haan underscored that every little bit can help consumers. It’s something,” he said. “Everyone’s going to be different, and I think most Americans will scoff at 5 to 10 cents, but it’s real savings. It’s not going to feel like much relief but it’s another option and it’s good to have options.”
metmike: Exactly wrong dude! Consumers will spend MORE on fuel because of the WORSE MILEAGE.
Ground-level smog contains ozone, which is the main health concern. Breathing ozone is harmful for anyone but particularly bad for older folks, people with asthma or other respiratory illness and people who work strenuous outdoor jobs and face more exposure.
Becker told CNN that more ozone smog is especially bad for childhood asthma.
“That’s a bad health and environmental result,” Becker said. “It means the ethanol lobby will be happy and kids with asthma will be sicker.”
Here are some of the effects of breathing ozone, according to the EPA and the CDC:
E15 was legal year-round until 2011, when the EPA moved to ban it in the summer.
Also, the Biden administration is replicating a Trump administration move to waive the E15 rule in 2019. The move by Trump’s EPA was later blocked by a panel of federal judges.
Biden officials stressed to reporters that this is responding to an emergency situation. Biden’s announcement, a senior administration official said, “is distinct from” his predecessor’s efforts to expand ethanol sales in that it’s “based on the current circumstance, which is a fuel supply emergency.
metmike: Emergency situation??? This would be like Frito Lay, charging $4.20 for a 16oz bag of chips, announcing that they will fight inflation by changing some ingredients in the chips and dropping the cost to $4.10 .........but not telling anybody that the new bags are just 15 oz! Or that some of the ingrediants were less healthy in the new chips.
We get less chips/oz and they are less healthy, Frito Lay makes more money.........consumers get messed over.
https://news.climate.columbia.edu/2011/03/21/ethanol%E2%80%99s-impacts-on-our-water-resources/
The Baker Instituteestimates that producing the corn to meet the ethanol mandate for 2015 will require 2.9 trillion gallons of water.
Most of this irrigation water is drawn from groundwater aquifers in a region that is already water stressed. Conflicts over water allotments have occurred in Kansas and Nebraska, and the Ogallala Aquifer, which lies under the Great Plains and supplies 30% of the nation’s groundwater for irrigation, is in danger of running dry.
Growing corn also requires a great deal of fertilizer, and extensive use of nitrogen fertilizer and pesticides is having severe impacts on water quality now. Fertilizer laden runoff into streams in the Midwest makes its way to the Mississippi River, and eventually contributes to the eutrophication (when algae bloom, then die, depleting the area of oxygen and suffocating plants and animals) in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2010, this dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico was estimated to be almost 8000 square miles and it continues to grow.
metmike: I totally understood it when Trump, the anti environmentalist, pushed for Summertime E-15 fuel. I didn't say anything because that's what he stood for.
I also completely understand why farmers would be for ethanol. They grow crops for a living(and do a wonderful job). Anything that makes their crops more valuable and makes them more money is a good thing. I like that part of it too for them, even though the pollution bothers me.......... but Biden, who blocked the Keystone Pipeline for fake environmentalism reasons, now shows how 2 faced of a fake environmentalist he really is with this COUNTERproductive, anti-environmental, purely political measure to make himself look good while indisputably hurting consumers and the environment.
If there ever was a thread that upsets both sides of the political isle.........this is it (-:
It's needs to be in the trading/market section despite the politics.
Would love to have other takes on this, please because it tugs in opposite directions for most here.
https://www.marketforum.com/forum/topic/77011/#78919
The benefit? The White House says E85 will knock the cost of gas down by 10 cents per gallon. It’s unclear if it will work as they intend, however. Ethanol is 30% less fuel-efficient than gas, so one has to purchase more gas to travel the same distance (in this case about 1.67% more). Plus, increasing the demand for ethanol will increase the price of ethanol. Not to mention, gas prices are already dropping.
If Biden wanted to make fuel more affordable, his administration would offer Jones Act waivers. Instead, this is about giving the ethanol lobby something they want and pandering to politicians in the Midwest.
Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, both Iowa Republicans, are big supporters of ethanol. The same is true of Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Illinois Democrats. That’s because those states grow a lot of corn — and special-interest groups who want to artificially increase demand for corn can donate money to their campaigns.
Special-interest groups will get even richer from this Biden administration rule change. However, it won’t benefit the American people; it will make the cost of living even higher for them.
Ya know. Some people voted for this. And i'm not likely to feel sorry for the consequences they asked for. But you are reaping what you have sowed. The rest of us have to adapt and recover.
https://gro-intelligence.com/insights/gro-predicts-us-corn-stocks-will-drop-sharply-in-2022-23
4 April 2022
US corn stocks, already the second lowest in eight years, will shrink further in 2022/23. That will fuel further price increases in a broad range of food products, from soda pop to chicken wings.
US farmers intend to plant 4 million fewer acres of corn this year, for a total of 89.6 million acres, because of soaring fertilizer costs. The low planting intentions number, which could change before seeds actually go in the ground, would mean a smaller corn harvest this year even if growing conditions are ideal. The acreage report marks only the second time in history that US farmers have planted more soybeans than corn.
In addition, US corn exports are increasing due to stalled shipments from war-ravaged Ukraine and declines in South American production. US corn total sales commitments are currently the second highest in history, and new crop sales also remain strong. The US is the No. 1 exporter of corn worldwide.
December corn futures prices are posting new contract highs. US corn ending stocks for the current year are forecast at 36.6 million tonnes. Gro predicts 2022/23 corn ending stocks will decline by a double-digit percentage.
The impact of higher corn prices is likely to be broad based given corn’s versatility. Corn touches a large number of products, from cornmeal and corn flour to high fructose corn syrup. Further, corn is the primary feed grain in the U.S. feeding chicken, hogs and cattle, likely prompting higher prices across the protein supply chain as well as for dairy products.
metmike: The retardation of this counter productive, PRO inflationary, anti environmental, anti consumer move to manufacture a FAKE political spin just blows my mind!
Biden’s energy solutions go from dumb to dumber.
https://homafiles.info/2022/04/12/oh-no-not-more-ethanol/
OK, I’ve got a personal ax to grind in this one.
Instead of encouraging a restoration of U.S. based oil & gas production, Biden has decided to “temporarily” increase the allowable ethanol content in gasoline from 10% to 15%.
Note: “Temporarily” is a synonym for “transient” … as in “transient inflation”.
Ostensibly, the move is intended to stretch U.S. oil supplies by, in effect, diluting the oil content in gas … as a means of curbing inflation at the pumps.
Oil industry execs oppose the move, arguing that it will shave, at most, one thin dime off a gallon of gas … and may have a net zero effect since gas refiners will incur higher costs shifting over to the 15% mix.
Greenies oppose the move since vehicle smog emissions increase as more ethanol is added to the gas blend.
Legal eagles point out that “A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit has already ruled that the EPA had improperly reinterpreted legal language in the Clean Air Act long understood as limiting ethanol to 10% of the content of gasoline.” Source
But, Biden administration lawyers say that Biden’s decision is based on a “different authority”.
You know, that wormy “We’ll do as we please with executive orders … and you can try to stop us.”
=============
And, what’s my beef?
Anybody with a car, a lawn mower or a boat knows that that ethanol literally gums up engines … hurting engine performance and often damaging engines.
I know that firsthand … having spent mucho buckos to “remediate” the ethanol effects on my boat’s engine.
The latter is a well known, wide spread and costly problem as evidenced by the springing up of ethanol-free gas pumps at marinas.
In effect, Biden’s move shift costs from the pumps to repair shops.
That said, I expect Psaki to throw shade for Biden with a variant of her “Boo-hoo your Peloton is trapped in the supply chain” wise crack.
==============
P.S. Corn farmers love the move to increase the ethanol content in gas.
Why?
It increases the demand for and price of corn.
In economics, it’s called “trading nickels”.
In strategic analysis, it’s called “going for the capillaries instead of the jugular.”
The fake Putin Price Hike
Started by metmike - April 15, 2022, 12:43 p.m.
The U.S. EPA has issued an emergency waiver to allow summertime sales of a higher #ethanol gasoline blend. The move is intended to alleviate high gas prices.
metmike: As already explained in the previous posts above.
A horrendously bad decision that hurts everybody.........except those that profit from ethanol sales.
Congrats to our farmers though.........and it's NOT their fault. They just try to maximize production and want the highest prices possible to offset massively increasing input costs. I'm at least happy for our corn growers.
To every body else.........this is Very COUNTER productive. Consumers will actually need MORE gas and spend MORE money on fuel and repairs because it lowers gas mileage.
E15 gas indisputably causes damage to small combustion engines and coming at a time with near historically low amounts of corn in storage and prices the 2nd highest in history, when we need to obtain MORE corn or ration demand...... not DEPLETE corn stocks even further doing this!
It's the exact, 100% worst decision for corn end users and food prices.
Also bad for the environment.
See the proof above for all of that.
We want to blame Biden for his failed policies. The problem, is that Biden isn't even capable of realizing his "failed policies". But that makes him a great scapegoat, for those who are really pulling the strings. A lot of people are just not smart enough to realize this. But they better be buying some carburator cleaner to add to their gas while they pump 15% ethanol.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2022/06/01/ethanol-a-dumb-idea-or-a-crime-or-both/
