Pecologix Political Ecology Blotter

In Washington, the 112th Congress adjourned without renewing the $0.45 VEETC tax credit for blenders of corn ethanol and the $0.54 per gallon tariff on imported ethanol. “With Congress in recess, there are no opportunities for further attempts to prolong the tax credit or the tariff, so we can confidently say these support mechanisms will [...]

In South Dakota, ethanol plants are being blamed for the rising level of carcinogens in the atmosphere, according to data from the Toxic Release Inventory. The analysis found that releases by ethanol plants has surpassed the releases by plastic factories, accounting for 40% of all reported carcinogens. For the past five years in South Dakota, [...]

In Washington, the U.S. Energy Information Administration says the U.S. has reached the ceiling of 14.2 billion gallons of annual ethanol production capacity, and the ethanol boom is essentially finished. There are more than 200 operational ethanol plants in the U.S. producing 14.2 billion to 14.7 billion gallons per year.Currently, the only major ethanol plant [...]

Instead of simply not collecting a portion of the fuel tax, the consumer is charged the whole amount, which is collected by the gas station and paid to the government. The government analyzes all this. Oil refiners then file a bunch of forms based on how much ethanol they blended into their fuel. The government [...]

In addition to looking at market access, in the form of blender pump and ethanol pipeline investments – the ethanol industry may well need to look carefully at its strategy to distribute E85 ethanol at a 25 percent discount to gasoline on a wider basis, and work carefully with automakers on rapidly increasing the number [...]

In Washington, the EPA approved blends of up to E15 ethanol for model year 2001 through 2006 for cars, SUVs, and light pickup trucks. On October 13, 2010, EPA approved a waiver allowing the use of E15 for model year 2007 (and newer) cars and light trucks.At that time, EPA denied a request to allow [...]

Sarah Lyutse of the NRDC reports as follows: Last week, NRDC released a new fact sheet on the VEETC, highlighting how our government’s biggest incentive program for biofuels has almost exclusively supported the production of corn ethanol which, when all direct and indirect costs are added, creates more global warming pollution than the oil it [...]