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Posted by David Sherman [24.32.202.83] on Saturday, August 22, 2009 at 13:27:41 :
In Reply to: Stand up to EPA. Your opportunity to speak. posted by Don in Missouri on Friday, August 21, 2009 at 15:42:03 :
I don't know the particulars, so my opinion might not be worth much, but what I'd really like to know is what is the "national Renewable Fuel Standard" and why we should have it. If it's some kind of list of subsidized bio-fuels, and other bio-fuels such as alcohol are still on it, then this seems to be sort of a political decision about who gets to play and who doesn't.
But I have to ask why we should have any taxpayer subsidy or promotion of any one type of fuel over another. Why not just let the market sort it out. I know it's tough on producers who probably got hooked in by high oil prices and some sort of subsidies or tax breaks, but all these gimmicks do in the end is distort the market and waste money. Sometimes they're even bad for the environment. I'd rather leave the government out of the fuel business entirely and let customers and producers decide what makes sense economically. That includes getting rid of all the regional smog gas blend variations, the ULSD rules, gasahol, and everything else. If it makes sense without any subsidies to manufacture biofuels, then I'm all for it, and it probably does make sense when the feedstock is waste material like used fryer grease, but if it doesn't pencil out as a bankable business proposition without government help, then why should we subsidize it?