Unachievable Government Ethanol Mandate Drives Gasoline Prices Higher
19th March 2013
My, what a surprise! Aren’t you surprised? I’m sure surprsied.
Among the many, many components of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007was a requirement that U.S. use of biofuels increase from 4.7 billion gallons in 2007 to 36 billion gallons in 2022. The number seemed to have been pulled from the air, since nobody can really know what fuel requirements will be years in the future, although continuing growth in demand for gasoline was assumed. In fact, though, gasoline use has slid since the year the law passed, from 3,389,269,000 barrels per day to 3,185,312,000 barrels per year*. And car manufacturers advise against using gasoline blended with more than ten percent ethanol, unless the car was designed for it, which most aren’t. But companies that supply gasoline are still required to increase biofuel consumption, which means ethanol, because that’s what’s available, so …