The Hill: The Senate voted 73-27 Thursday to kill a major tax break that benefits the ethanol industry, handing a political win to a bipartisan group of lawmakers that call the incentive needless and expensive. [...]
Thirty-three Republicans and 38 Democrats supported the measure along with both of the chamber's Independents, who caucus with Democrats.Isn't it amazing how financial desperation brings about such clarity? I have been hearing about ethanol since I was a little boy in grade school and it has never become a widely acceptable fuel in this country. It should have been abundantly clear decades ago that despite billion wasted on this fuel, it was going no where. Politicians were basically using this credit to buy votes and nothing else.
Fourteen Republicans and 13 Democrats voted against it. [MORE]
Yes, America needs alternative fuels, but we should trust in the free market to find it for us rather than attempt to pick winners and losers.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: The Hill
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7 comments:
And while we're searching for alternative fuels, we also need to drill for the (boatloads of) oil we're sitting on in this country.
Now we need to get rid of legislation requiring that ethanol be blended into gasoline.
Hope. All I can do is hope. The ethanol industry is a cash cow for politicians, and their crony partners.
Hope.
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What a start, now we need to hit the other scared cows: Farm subsidies, corporate welfare, public transportation like L-trains, public unions, etc.
When I was in college I drove around town trying to find a gas station that didn't had "10% ethanol" infused into gasoline; I couldn't. I swear it made the mileage worse.
I remember around that time [Clinton era], ethanol was all the hippies and anti-establishment types [ie. liberals] could talked about.
I guess they were wrong, just like they are today with their anti-energy policies.
2nd Anonymous
It is true that it makes gas mileage worse. It has a lower air to fuel ratio for a stoichiometric burn so it takes more fuel to burn efficiently and get the max power. The car's computer modifies the amount of fuel injected based on the 02 sensor readout, which changes based on the fuel mixture. I'm not sure the car has presets for certain ethanol blends of fuel, but I'm pretty sure that if it doesn't, the 02 sensor will modify fuel delivery.
Before GM was Government Motors, I bought a truck that also filled up on ethanol. However, that is not one of the features that caused me to want the vehicle, it just came with the package. So I decided to try out ethanol, and I learned that my vehicle did NOT drive as many miles as it does when it was filled up on gasoline. And my truck did NOT accelerate as fast when I pushed on the gas pedal. So on ethanol you may save a couple dollars but you don’t get as many miles which totally defeats the purpose.
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