The George C. Marshall Institute has released a new study from James DeLong outlining what it refers to as “the five circles of Carbon Tax Hell.” The study is very readable and concise (only 34 pages of main text), yet at the same time offers a comprehensive survey of the main problems with a carbon [...]
Ethanol Mandates Distort Corn Market
A recent Bloomberg article underscores the government distortions in the fuel and food sectors. The piece discusses the rising price of ethanol because of expected supply problems: Ethanol’s discount to gasoline narrowed to a four-month low on speculation that the slowest pace of corn planting since 1986 will make it difficult to replenish supplies. The [...]
May 3, 2013 | Bus Tour, Facts, News, Renewable Fuel Standard, Threats
Federal Regulations Drive Up Gasoline Prices
Lately an argument has broken out over the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and whether it drives up gasoline prices. The recent controversy was sparked by a WSJ article discussing the shocking fact that Renewable Identification Number (RIN) credits—which are one way of complying with the federal standard—had shot up in prices from about 7 cents [...]
April 12, 2013 | Bus Tour, News, Renewable Fuel Standard, Threats
The Biofuel Mandate and EPA’s Costly Tall Tale
The Energy Policy Act of 2005 requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to set mandatory levels of cellulosic biofuel for refiners to blend into transportation fuels. In order to restrain EPA, the law requires that the mandate be based on an estimate from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) as to how much cellulosic biofuel [...]
April 5, 2013 | Bus Tour, News, Renewable Fuel Standard, Threats
Prepare for Higher Gas Prices
EPA Will Increase Gasoline Prices and Reduce Fuel Economy with Its Bid to Further Reduce Sulfur in Gasoline The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has decided that the sulfur content of gasoline must be further reduced from 30 parts per million to 10 parts per million on an annual average basis by January 1, [...]
April 4, 2013 | Bus Tour, News, Threats, Tier 3 Standards
New Study on the Impact of RFS Implies There Is No Need for the RFS
Earlier this week, the Renewable Fuels Association released a report arguing that the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is only slightly raising gasoline prices. The implication of the report is clear—there is no need for RFS. If the RFS has positive benefits, as the report claims, or only slight costs, then there is no need [...]
March 29, 2013 | Bus Tour, Facts, News, Renewable Fuel Standard
Senator Whitehouse’s Duplicitous Carbon Tax Amendment
Last weekend the Senate rejected an amendment to the FY 2014 budget that would have enacted a carbon tax. For those interested in affordable energy and job creation, this was a good thing. Still, it’s worth walking through the actual wording of Senator Whitehouse’s amendment to see just how duplicitous it was. Even if someone [...]
March 26, 2013 | Bus Tour, Emissions Standards, Facts, Greenhouse Gases, News, Threats
Ethanol “Blending Wall” Leads to Gas Exports
A recent WSJ article explained how the ethanol mandate is leading to a “blend wall” that paradoxically leads U.S. refiners to export their gasoline, raising pump prices at home. This is just another fantastic example of government policies having unintended consequences. Before looking at just how serious the problem is, let’s set the context by [...]
March 18, 2013 | Bus Tour, News, Renewable Fuel Standard
Everybody Agrees that CAFE Standards Are Inefficient
Often in the policy debates on government regulations, you will have free-market people decrying inefficient impediments to business, while the other side will tout the (alleged) benefits to the environment or whatever the social goal happens to be. Yet a new MIT study—from a group that is very sympathetic to carbon regulatory policies—documents how inefficient [...]
March 6, 2013 | Bus Tour, Corporate Average Fuel Economy, Facts, News, Threats
Boxer-Sanders Carbon “Fee” Relies on Huge Bait-and-Switch
A recent story in EnergyGuardian (sub. req’d) centered on Senator Sheldon Whitehouse’s (D-R.I.) support for the carbon “fee” bill introduced by his colleagues Sen. Barbara Boxer and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Fortunately, the newly-released NERA study gives us a quantitative estimate of how much their scheme would hurt the U.S. economy. The whole episode fulfills the [...]
February 28, 2013 | Bus Tour, Emissions Standards, Facts, Greenhouse Gases, News, Threats
