A Talent for Deception

Guest Post by Eric Peters

When establishment Republicans like Jim Talent pat the president on the back, he might want to check for a knife.

Talent recently praised Trump for not ending or even dialing back the Renewable Fuels Standard – a federal mandate which force-feeds billions of gallons of ethanol and biodiesel to American drivers, like it or not. The fact that there is no natural market for ethanol – which may be “renewable” but isn’t energy efficient – doesn’t seem to bother Talent, who is an ex-senator from Missouri and lawyer/lobbyist/PR flack by trade.

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This probably explains his lack of economic and engineering knowledge about ethanol.

It’s astonishing, first of all, that he could write that ethanol “saves consumers at the pump.” If that were so, “consumers” wouldn’t need to be force-fed ethanol. This much ought to be obvious – even to a lawyer/lobbyist.

But ethanol does have to be force-fed to Americans –  because it costs them money.

To begin with, it contains less energy per gallon than gasoline. It takes 1.5 gallons of ethanol to equal the energy contained in a gallon of gasoline. That means your car doesn’t travel as far on ethanol-adulterated fuel – and you need to fill up sooner.

Which costs you money.

Ethanol – which is corn alcohol – costs in other ways, too.

Car engines and fuel delivery systems have to be “hardened” to handle ethanol-adulterated fuel, because alcohol is both highly corrosive as well as water-attractive. It accelerates internal rusting of fuel tanks and lines and – in car and other engines not designed for it – accelerates the deterioration of rubber and plastic seals, too – leading to leaks and potentially fires.

These are not problems for new cars designed to burn ethanol-laced “gas” (most “gas” sold in the United States is E10, 10 percent ethanol; the ethanol lobby is pushing for E15, 15 percent ethanol). But it is a huge problem for older vehicles – those made before the early 2000s – and there are millions still in service.

it is also a major problem for seasonal/outdoor power equipment because ethanol-adulterated fuel does not store as well nor as long – leading to problems  come spring, when the time comes to fire up the gummed-up lawn mower/tractor. Some outdoor power equipment manufacturers – Stihl chainsaws, for example – expressly warn owners about using ethanol-laced fuel.

And ethanol is a problem for every car, in terms of decreased fuel economy vs. 100 percent gasoline.

Which – again – is why it has to be mandated. Very few people, if given the free choice, would choose to fill their cars with a fuel that takes them less far – and so costs them more.

Talent turns this simple, obvious logic on its head – asserting that getting rid of the mandate that forces people to buy ethanol-adulterated fuel would be “rolling back competition” – an embarrassing display of economic ignorance.

If ethanol made economic sense, it wouldn’t be necessary to shove the proverbial funnel down the throats of American drivers. The free market would ensure the success of ethanol and other biofuels  – in the same way that the market has made sure that Starbucks coffee is available on every street corner.

No Starbucks Coffee Standard needed.

As a “policy analyst” at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, it is startling that Talent doesn’t understand this.

But he’s not done.

Talent also says the RFS mandate “ensur(es) that U.S. biofuels can reach consumers at the gasoline pump, breaking a once-solid monopoly on motor fuels.”

Come again?

A monopoly can only exist when it is legislated – when people are forced to do business with a particular business. When they have no free choice, in other words. What Talent and other pushers of the RFS standard are demanding is, in fact, a monopoly – a legal requirement that people buy “renewable” fuels, that refiners and distributors be forced to adulterate gasoline with it – regardless of the market’s desire for it.

The very definition of “monopoly.”

These are facts, not matters of opinion.

And the fact is, ethanol has been unable to compete on the merits.

The fact is, ethanol requires government shoving a bayonet in the backsides of American drivers.

The fact is, the ethanol lobby uses its considerable resources to strong-arm politicians – current and ex – to press for legislative favors that keep this crony capitalist con alive and profitable.

Ironically, the one element of the renewable fuels boondoggle that did make a little sense is the one Talent and other corn-pushers oppose. A rule change was proposed earlier ths year that would at least have given mandated ethanol producers and distributors credit (with the EPA) for selling surplus renewables to other countries. This would have put money in American hands, without putting as much corrosive, fuel-inefficient ethanol in the tanks of Americans’ cars.

Talent calls this a “dodge” in his recent op-ed piece on the subject.

Meanwhile, he and others in his camp are pushing for an expansion of the RFS mandate; that more rather than less be produced – at gunpoint. This language may sound harsh, but it’s reality. The ethanol lobby isn’t “asking” that ethanol be produced and purchased.

You can’t say ” no thanks” to a mandate.

President Trump might want to look into the reality of renewables – as opposed to the disingenuous PR peddled by Talent, et al – and ask the question that arguably got him elected.

It is, simply – who benefits?

Is it the American driver? Is it America?

Or is it a handful of politically powerful corn pushers, talking up “renewable fuels” for the sake of padding their own pockets at the expense of Americans – and America?

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hardscrabble farmer
hardscrabble farmer

Anyone who understands the workings of engines knows that using anything made with ethanol is going to damage them. Period. It ruins small engines like chainsaws and weed whips, every single time because it breaks down and produces water which will score cylinders.

It’s cemented into law to prop up the Ag cartels who can produce cheap corn using…

Why do I bother? Who cares anyway? Everything is being deliberately ruined and torn down because that’s how the powerful are able to remain in power. Everyone else just suffers.

Tom S.
Tom S.

“Why do I bother? Who cares anyway? Everything is being deliberately ruined and torn down because that’s how the powerful are able to remain in power. Everyone else just suffers.”

Truer words were never spoken, HSF

Mad as hell
Mad as hell

Exactly how I feel. Why bother explaining it. Hell, most of the millennials don’t even seem to realize there is an ENGINE in a car. They can’t even change a tire, much less understand how Ethanol will ruin their engine. They probably think you can just put a latte in the gas tank, and it will work fine…..
This country, and everything that resourceful people built for the last couple of hundred years is being steadily destroyed by greed and stupidity on a grand scale. The thinking man increasingly has no place in a country where the Kardashians and Dancing with the has beens is popular.

As a side note, do you notice that this lobbyist shit resembles the usual brand of milquetoast, east coast libtard that you see in Washington / NYC touting stupidity? Does this clown look like he would know ANYTHING about any kind of fuel, or for that matter, ANYTHING of any value? I wonder how long the larger populous is going to continue putting up from mandates from clowns like this?

kokoda - AZEK (Deck Boards) doesn't stand behind its product
kokoda - AZEK (Deck Boards) doesn't stand behind its product

Mad……………..I will disagree with you and the author on one point. These people are not stupid. They will do anything to achieve greater wealth.

They like the lifestyle – they meet ‘important’ people; they are in the news; they go to lavish functions, and they want the train to keep on rolling down the tracks.

Look at the GloBull Warming scum – every year they go to massive functions; e.g., this year is COP 23 in Berlin and there are many more functions with Lobster, Caviar, 100 year aged wine. Do you think any of these scum want the party to end?

Iska Waran
Iska Waran

Less than 27 months until the Iowa caucuses.

ChrisNJ
ChrisNJ

I own lots of chainsaws and small engines. Ethanol fuel (10% now) has caused many problems for me and neighbors. It even made one of my saws worthless. It was one of Stihls less expensive models of which I have many, but it wouldn’t run, so I took it apart, found the carburetor messed up, rebuilt it and it still wouldn’t run. Took it apart again, and couldn’t believe my closer inspection that it literally pitted the aluminum body. Junk. $125 for a new one, for a $275 saw. Not worth it. I couldn’t risk this with my expensive saws, so now we must add tons of additives, and pray that it doesn’t damage them. We now have to go through time consuming ‘rituals’ to avoid damaging all our small engines.
In my travels across the US, I’ve noticed most rural places now offer ‘non-ethanol’ premium fuel. This solves the problem for a lot of people, but this fuel is not avail. in my metro area (NYC). Buying ‘pre-made’ non-ethonal fuel in cans is an option, but it is very expensive and would cost us a lot cause we use a lot.
I dislike this ethanol game very much.

Tom S.
Tom S.

Don’t know about where you live, but here in NC there are a lot of gas stations selling the 100% gasoline. Not every one, of course, but enough they are relatively convenient.

KeyserSusie
KeyserSusie

I have had chain saws, string trimmers, outboards etc go bad, most likely from etoh contamination. If you look long term and see where the ME is turned to glass and a giant black swan of no-more-oil from there, then the ability to augment our fuel sources is not impractical. And I imagine – to have experience and mechanisms in place – is not a bad idea. I can imagine scenarios where long term shortages could be possible. And I do not even believe we are in ‘peak oil’ days.

But it does seem stupid on the surface to continue this practice.

Mongoose
Mongoose

Have not seen anyone comment on the connection between diverting corn crops for ethanol production and food production. This goes way beyond just the corn industry and fuel. It is global management of food production. Shrink acreage for food corns and the price goes up and thus provides the food industry with justification for all the GMO and chemical additives used in our food supply. Of course with the requisite price increases all the way around. And the complicit gummint agencies bless everything as “safe for human consumption” while people continue getting sick, obese, thus providing the input for making the Medical and Big Pharma folks rich in the process. It is one big merry go-round! Don’cha just love it.

I can’t believe Pres. Trump didn’t put his foot down on this. This outrageous and ethanol should be significantly reduced in limited uses or eliminated completely. Maybe our food costs would go down and we would get healthier stuff to boot.

Unpreventable
Unpreventable

Two banes of my existence include battery degeneration and gasoline degradation. There are ways to slow them, but they cannot be entirely prevented. Battery tenders slow the former and fuel stabilizers assist with the latter. Ethanol is made from food and I’ve seen it fecundate a bacteria-like green film onto carburetors. I live in an ethanol producing state and every year the number of gas stations that sell regular gasoline diminishes, and even its quality has declined over the past several years. The oil companies are like drug dealers seeking profit, so they keeping “stepping on” the product with no regard for the junkies. None of it bodes well for the future, let alone post SHTF scenarios. I dread TEOTWAWKI when the proverbial plates will be spun for only so long before they begin to fall; first one at a time, then all together. Until then, every day is a holiday and every meal is a feast.

i forget
i forget
Rob
Rob

Close but no cigar. This is my guess……Ethanol = Corn crops. Farmers make money and viola the USDA doesn’t need to pay subsidizes to farmers to not grow crops. BTW, how many people do you think work in the ethanol industry? So for the Trumpster to void the ethanol card it would reverberate across the country (i.e. coal miners, Carrier, etc) that Trump really doesn’t want people to have jobs.

Hollywood Rob

This is not me. It is another Rob. Not that I disagree, but having two Robs is probably not a good idea…Rob.

Oh and mr. talent is gay, for sure, and he is most certainly not talented, nor is he a conservative.

Anonymous
Anonymous

Fuck Ethanol, I miss genuine high test leaded gas.

High octane leaded gas: Real fuel for real vehicles.

Overthecliff

Jim Talent is the personification of establishment Republican. Not one bit better than his replacement Claire McCaskil.

James the Wanderer

There are plenty of legitimate reasons / ways to use ethanol, starting with Jack Daniels. You could use an alcohol burner to run a turbine to generate electricity, were a large enough supplier of ethanol available and reasonably priced. You could use ethanol in furnaces to heat homes; you could use ethanol as a building block towards numerous useful chemicals. You can use ethanol to make ethers, esters, polymers; you could use ethanol to produce soaps, cleaners, etc.
With all of these valid, worthwhile uses for ethanol why MAKE UP a feeble, inefficient, pointless use (as a motor fuel)? Why go looking for trouble when peaceful progress already exists?
The stupid, it burns.

Penforce

First rule for any government that would like to stay in power. Ensure a food supply and if it’s affordable, even better. Ethanol has provided an additional market for corn and has helped stabilize grain prices. Farming has been lucrative and ethanol has been a major factor in keeping prices stable due to higher demand. Farmers aren’t fools and know that the ethanol mandate is a replacement for the farm program. Agriculture is a booming business and many of the new technologies are sold there first since they pencil out in this industry. Most grower know it’s crony economics but also know it would be foolish to give up the cash cow and then have to ride the extreme price swings of the past.

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