The RFS was probably the only thing that would make him sign a bill with the RES 15% standard in it.  If he does really go and finds a way around it, then he'll be far less likely to sign a bill with the 15% standard.

But apparently those who like the Energy Bill think we should be, and that even if we are upset about the RFS we should shut up, lest the other parts of the Energy Bill be thrown out with this increasingly fetid bathwater.

By the way, one of the stories on FarmPolicy.com (sent to me by e-mail) contains the following quote:

"People at EPA think it's crazy to mandate such a large volume of renewable fuels," Mike Leister, fuels technology manager for Marathon Petroleum Co. in Findlay, Ohio, told DTN.

I guess we should be grateful to learn that there are still sensible people working for the EPA. Unfortunately, those that make the policies have their own agendas.

Odograph, I'm touched that you have such faith in humanity, but this issue is not about people but about power politics.

You say, "We'll try corn ethanol for a while, but I think we'll figure out the downsides after a time." WE (that is to say, ADM and their political friends) have been trying corn ethanol for almost 30 years now. And once a big mandate is established, how do you see it being unravelled? Mandates are forever, and the only way out of them is to make a massive pay-off to the industry.

Moreover, even if the government succeeds in keeping production of ethanol from corn starch to 15 billion gallons a year, corn will not disappear from the scene. Ethanol from other parts of the corn plant, and sweet sorghum (also a crop with soil-erosion problems, albeit less demanding of nitrogen fertilizer), will qualify as "advanced" biofuels.

Hehey, to quote the dreadful song.  Usually in this hypester type of market action, the big money is made on the upside about a year or two before it is big political news.  They sold 'em, or rather got rid of their long positions quite a while back.

Too late now, unless you short them.  But even those short positions were best 6 months ago as ethanol profits went from 3 bucks per gallon to only 25 cents per gallon.  A glut of ethanol and no way to mix it into the gas supply fast enough was the culprit.

Maybe taking long positions in plugin battery electric car equipment makers would be a good idea for the next big boom.  But it might take a year or two to develop.

When consumers start seeing the audi plugin and maybe even the volt, they are going to want one too.  How fast will it ramp up?  How fast did Prius sales ramp up?  These plugins will actually save enough gas to be worth the financial investment to family economics too.

Unlike the Prius, it has a longer payback,less fuel saved,  feel good green, but not green as in more cash.  The plugins will improve your cash flow, by maybe 1000 bucks per year on average.

http://amazngdrx.blogharbor.com/blog

You need about two gallons of oil to produce one gallon of biofuel. And in Indonesia they destroy the entire rain forest in order to plant biofuel producing trees. What a nonsense.

Never stop using your brain!