Ethanol

iowa caucus?!see palm oil? bio-fuels?=api SUED TO STOP?<div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">=</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">thehill</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">lawmakers on both sides of the aisle pressed President Trump’s pick for the No. 2 position at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on a range of issues during an at times contentious Senate hearing Wednesday.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Sens. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.) pressed Douglas Benevento about ethanol requirement exemptions for small refineries after a federal court ruled that the EPA would have to reconsider certain waivers.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">The EPA has the option to appeal the court’s decision. </div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">“Can you commit to me that the EPA will not grant any of these pending small refinery exemptions of 2019 until the legal action is settled?” Ernst asked during the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee hearing.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">Benevento said he would get back to her with a response.</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">“Our farmers and producers are tired of being yanked around by the EPA and again these illegal [exemptions],” Ernst replied. “A number of these ‘small refineries’ are actually owned by much larger companies, oil companies like Exxon and Chevron.”</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">After the nominee similarly told Duckworth that he’d get back to her on whether the agency would temporarily stop issuing the waivers until the litigation is resolved, the senator said, “It’s an easy thing to say. Don’t grant any more waivers, since you’re going to be appealing this ruling, or if you’re not going to appeal the ruling, then you don’t need to grant any more waivers.”</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">
</div><div style="font-family: " times="Times" new="New" roman="Roman" font-size="font-size" large="large" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb">“I just don’t think it would be prudent to be making a regulatory decision right here,” Benevento responded. ...</div>=<blockquote style="border-left: 4px solid rgb(139, 196, 74); padding: 0px 0px 0px 1em; margin: 1em 0px;">The leading industry association for oil refineries has sued EPA to stop it from lifting an Obama-era summertime ban on selling gasoline that is blended to contain 15 percent ethanol (called E15). Trump lifted the ban to help corn farmers wilting under his trade war with China, <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-ethanol-lawsuit/u-s-refiner-group-sues-trump-epa-over-high-ethanol-gasoline-idUSKCN1TB2HP" style="">as Reuters reports</a>. Burning high-ethanol E15 in the hottest months can increase smog, while creating the blends increases refiners’ costs.<a href="https://www.greencarreports.com/news/1123472_automakers-lay-out-mpg-concerns-for-trump-talk-to-california-pleaseupdate" style="">According to Green Car Reports</a>, 17 automakers have asked EPA and the Department of Transportation to negotiate with California on the administration’s proposed rollback of Obama-era fuel efficiency standards, and its vow to rescind California’s decades-long right to set its own standards.<ul style="margin: 1em 0px;"><li style="margin: 7.5px 0px 7.5px 15px;">These moves, as the automakers and many other observers besides have noted, will divide the U.S. auto market and bring on years of of litigation, creating a great deal of instability for the auto industry.</li><li style="margin: 7.5px 0px 7.5px 15px;"><a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/06/06/730485234/carmakers-to-white-house-work-with-california-on-rules-for-greenhouse-gases" style="">Responding to a request for comment from NPR</a>, a White House spokesperson said, in so many words, that the administration is committed to both the rollback and eliminating California’s auto emissions power.</li></ul></blockquote>=huge subsidies thus fierce lobby? cf west wing synonymous with graft and pol cowardice?
wheeler lobby?see RFS icahn pruit coin<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="yiv6508291339mcnCaptionBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb"><tbody class="yiv6508291339mcnCaptionBlockOuter"><tr><td class="yiv6508291339mcnCaptionBlockInner" valign="top" style="padding: 9px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv6508291339mcnCaptionRightContentOuter" width="100%" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="yiv6508291339mcnCaptionRightContentInner" style="padding: 0px 9px;"><table class="yiv6508291339mcnCaptionRightTextContentContainer" align="right" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="352" style="border-collapse: collapse;"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" class="yiv6508291339mcnTextContent" style="line-height: 24px;">A<a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=fe40c3952f&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none;">s Trump Touts Ethanol, Scientists Question the Fuel's Climate Claims</a>
BY: GEORGINA GUSTIN
At a crucial moment in ethanol policy, the U.S. Department of Agriculture is doubling down on its argument that ethanol is better than conventional fuel — but are its numbers right?</td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" width="100%" class="yiv6508291339mcnButtonBlock" style="border-collapse: collapse;" helvetica="Helvetica" neue="Neue" arial="Arial" sans-serif="sans-serif" font-size="font-size" px="px" background-color="background-color" rgb="rgb" min-width="min-width"><tbody class="yiv6508291339mcnButtonBlockOuter"><tr><td valign="top" align="center" class="yiv6508291339mcnButtonBlockInner" style="padding: 0px 18px 18px;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="yiv6508291339mcnButtonContentContainer" style="border-radius: 5px; background-color: rgb(142, 196, 77);"><tbody><tr><td align="center" valign="middle" class="yiv6508291339mcnButtonContent" style="padding: 6px;"><a rel="nofollow" class="yiv6508291339mcnButton " title="Read More" target="blank" href="https://insideclimatenews.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=7c733794100bcc7e083a163f0&id=28db954b87&e=06876ede6b" style="text-decoration-line: none; display: block; letter-spacing: 1px; line-height: 14px;">Read More</a></td></tr></tbody></table></td></tr></tbody></table>Doubling down on the biofuel boondoggleWashington Post-18 hours agoIn a nutshell, the RFS required the nation's petroleum refiners to blend ever-increasing quantities of biofuels, chiefly ethanol, into gasoline, ...Trump tests the limits of peak ethanolOpinion-The Globe and Mail-20 hours agoView allStory image for ethanol from India TimesIndia TimesJohn Phipps: Emergence of Electric Cars, Impact on Ethanol DemandAgWeb-5 hours agoIn this week's Customer Support, Todd Roberts has a question about ethanol demand: “If electric cars are the future of automobiles, how does ...Story image for ethanol from ForbesPut Ethanol In People, Not GasolineForbes-Oct 10, 2018At a campaign rally in Iowa, President Trump indicated that he intends to support requiring a blend of 15% ethanol in the U.S. gasoline supply.Trump's ethanol move delivers gift to corn countryIn-Depth-Politico-Oct 8, 2018View all
=<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/doubling-down-on-the-biofuel-boondoggle/2018/10/14/3092cd7e-ccbc-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html">https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/doubling-down-on-the-biofuel-boondoggle/2018/10/14/3092cd7e-ccbc-11e8-920f-dd52e1ae4570_story.html</a>?noredirect=on&utm_term=.2303e6fcccfd<div class="author-sig-line-wrapper" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: 22px; display: inline-block; flex-direction: column;"><div class="author-sig-line" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><div class="author-byline " style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; display: flex; flex-direction: column;"><div class="author-wrapper" data-authorname="Editorial Board" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; position: relative;"><div class="author-info" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; float: left;"><a class="author-name" href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-posts-view/" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold;">Editorial Board</a></div></div></div></div><span class="author-timestamp" itemprop="datePublished" content="2018-10-14T07:37-500" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">October 14 at 7:37 PM</div><p data-elm-loc="1" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">FOR MORE THAN a decade, the United States has pursued the foolhardy energy policy known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, or RFS. Thanks to legislation passed by a Democratic Congress and signed into law by a Republican president, George W. Bush, in 2007, the RFS illustrates the sad-but-true principle of Washington life that bipartisanship is no guarantee of wisdom. In a nutshell, the RFS required the nation’s petroleum refiners to blend ever-increasing quantities of biofuels, chiefly ethanol, into gasoline, purportedly to promote energy independence and fight climate change.<p data-elm-loc="2" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Never mind that the United States has meanwhile become a major oil exporter, due to a production boom. Never mind that the environmental harms of ethanol arguably outweigh its benefits, because it takes massive amounts of energy to distill ethanol from corn — and massive amounts of fragile farmland to grow that crop. Never mind that diverting resources into corn production for ethanol raises the price of food. Never mind all that, because 39 percent of Iowa’s corn crop goes to create <a href="https://www.iowacorn.org/media-page/corn-facts" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">nearly 30 percent of all U.S. ethanol</a>. And Iowa is a swing state with six crucial electoral votes and a first-in-the-nation presidential caucus; whatever Iowa wants, Iowa gets, from politicians of both parties.<p data-elm-loc="3" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Hence President Trump’s announcement, on the midterm-election campaign trail in Iowa, that he would, in effect, double down on this decreasingly justifiable policy. Mr. Trump declared that the Environmental Protection Agency will draft regulations allowing the year-round sale of motor fuel containing 15 percent ethanol, as opposed to the 10 percent limitation in effect for several months a year because of air-pollution concerns related to summertime atmospheric conditions. This would incentivize gas station owners to install pumps capable of delivering the fuel, thus boosting ethanol sales.<div class="teads-inread" style="box-sizing: content-box; margin: 0px auto 20px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; overflow: hidden; height: 0px; transition: height 0.5s ease 0s; max-width: 640px;"><div style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; position: relative; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"><div class="teads-ui-components-adchoices" style="box-sizing: border-box; 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margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px !important; text-align: center !important; text-transform: uppercase !important; height: 21px !important; line-height: 21px !important; letter-spacing: 0.3px !important;"><div class="teads-player" id="teads0" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; margin-bottom: 0px !important;"></div></div></div><p data-elm-loc="4" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The point is to rescue Iowa corn farmers from adverse market conditions, which include <a href="https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-07-31/tariffs-send-soy-and-corn-prices-plummeting-trump-says-farmers-will-act-patriots" title="www.pri.org" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">lower prices</a> because of retaliation from trading partners against Mr. Trump’s tariffs. The more fundamental problem is that, at its inception, the RFS assumed that ever-rising U.S. gas consumption would permit refiners to absorb huge amounts of ethanol. In fact, the year after Congress adopted the bipartisan RFS legislation, the U.S. economy went into a recession, causing a collapse in the <a href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/graph/?g=lls" title="fred.stlouisfed.org" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">number of miles Americans drove</a> and the amount of <a href="http://www.autonews.com/article/20150325/OEM06/150329911/average-u.s.-gasoline-usage-lowest-in-3-decades-study-says" title="www.autonews.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">fuel consumed per capita</a>. Only last year did consumption <a href="https://www.bp.com/content/dam/bp/en/corporate/pdf/energy-economics/statistical-review/bp-stats-review-2018-oil.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">return to pre-recession levels.</a><p data-elm-loc="5" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Refiners face high and rising costs when they are forced either to mix more ethanol into their motor fuels or to buy offsetting credits known, obscurely, as Renewable identification numbers (RIN). Plagued by volatility and manipulation, the market for RIN has turned into a major headache for smaller refiners, which often seek <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biofuels-epa/biofuel-groups-ask-u-s-government-to-slow-small-refinery-waiver-program-idUSKBN1K82UL" title="www.reuters.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">waivers</a> of the ethanol blending requirement. The entire system adds enormous bureaucracy and complexity to the fuel market, with little or no benefit to consumers. E15, as the 15 percent ethanol blend is known, might cost less per gallon, but because of its lower energy content, motorists would probably get poorer mileage and have to fill up more often.<p data-elm-loc="6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">The petroleum industry has promised a lawsuit to stop Mr. Trump’s plan. While we hesitate to take sides between agribusiness and Big Oil, in this instance public policy clearly favors the latter.<div data-elm-loc="7" class="extra" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 22px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;"><p data-elm-loc="7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.4em + 0.3333vw);"><b style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial;">Read more:<p data-elm-loc="7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.4em + 0.3333vw);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-us-is-about-to-be-the-worlds-top-crude-oil-producer-guess-who-didnt-see-it-coming/2018/03/07/6a812b62-222a-11e8-badd-7c9f29a55815_story.html?utm_term=.33a1ca1dcc62" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">Charles Lane: The U.S. is about to be the world’s top crude oil producer. Guess who didn’t see it coming.</a><p data-elm-loc="7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.4em + 0.3333vw);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-fossil-fuels-survive/2018/02/28/4725cb3c-1cad-11e8-9de1-147dd2df3829_story.html?utm_term=.f51ecef38e37" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">Robert J. Samuelson: Why fossil fuels survive</a><p data-elm-loc="7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.4em + 0.3333vw);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/why-fuel-efficiency-standards-wont-actually-curb-gas-consumption/2018/05/07/db2c5bf0-5210-11e8-9c91-7dab596e8252_story.html?utm_term=.f58a74d01cce" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">Charles Lane: Why fuel-efficiency standards won’t minimize gas consumption</a><p data-elm-loc="7" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 4px 0px 18px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; line-height: calc(1.4em + 0.3333vw);"><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-picks-a-science-adviser--then-ignores-the-facts-on-fuel-efficiency/2018/08/05/8801d9ae-9690-11e8-80e1-00e80e1fdf43_story.html?utm_term=.fdc3a3d9d182" title="www.washingtonpost.com" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; text-decoration-line: none; border-bottom: 1px solid rgb(213, 213, 213);">The Post’s View: Trump picks a science adviser — then ignores the facts on fuel efficiency</a></div><a href="https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/7/1755199/-Crony-Capitalism-Corporate-raider-Carl-Ichan-sits-at-the-center-of-the-Scott-Pruitt-scandals" style="text-decoration-line: none; font-weight: bold; outline: none;">https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2018/4/7/1755199/-Crony-Capitalism-Corporate-raider-Carl-Ichan-sits-at-the-center-of-the-Scott-Pruitt-scandals</a>no lnxCrony Capitalism: Corporate raider Carl Ichan sits at the center of the Scott Pruitt EPA scandals.
Frank Vyan Walton  CommunitySaturday April 07, 2018 · 10:05 AM PDT
As documented this week by Rachel Maddow it appears that Scott Pruitt was actually vetted and chosen for his position as EPA chief by billionaire corporate raider Carl Ichan and that besides systematically destroying environmental protections he’s also been going out of his way to shovel cargo ship bushel’s of money directly into Ichan’s pockets.Before hiring Pruitt he met with Trump at Trump Tower where he was told to “go two blocks down the street to talk to Carl” which he did and once he received Ichan’s endorsement he was hired.Once you understand Ichan’s links to Pruitt many of his subsequent actions begin to make much more sense.Ichan was brought into the Trump administration as a regulation czar in 2017, but left rather quickly and unceremoniously when it discovered he was using his position to make $100 Millions for himself on the stock market.
Carl Icahn resigned from his post as special advisor on regulation to Donald Trump ahead of a critical magazine article detailing his potential conflicts of interest and questioning whether he had acted illegally.
CNBC originally published an investigation on the matter in December.
The new New Yorker piece centered on how the billionaire investor, who announced his departure from the role on Friday, had been pushing to change part of a rule that has a negative impact on one of his energy investments.
Icahn said that he resigned from the role to avoid "partisan bickering" about his position. The billionaire investor said he did not want that scrutiny to affect the Trump administration's work on regulatory reform....Still, former White House ethics lawyers had told CNBC that Icahn's appointment to the informal role, given his stake in refiner CVR Energy, represented a conflict of interest and could have put him at risk of violating conflicts laws.The rule in question requires refiners to blend ethanol, a renewable fuel, into gasoline. In an interview on CNBC's "Fast Money: Halftime Report,"Icahn said the Environmental Protection Agency should immediately revoke part of the rule that requires refiners that cannot blend ethanol into gasoline to buy credits instead.If Icahn's advice in his capacity as special advisor on regulation contributed to such a repeal, he would have inherently aided in removing a disadvantage for CVR Energy. Repeal of the regulation could have potentially boosted CVR's stock price and enrich Icahn.The markets were anticipating Icahn would help shape rules that would benefit CVR: Shares of the company rose 11.5 percent after Trump named him to the role. Icahn Associates held 82 percent of CVR Energy's outstanding shares at the time, according to FactSet data.
There’s also the story of the odd trip the Pruitt took to Morocco along with 7 members of his staff and also his full security details ...ucshttps://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refinery-exemptions-to-the-rfsFormer EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt is gone, but the messes he created will be with us for a long time. His approach to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) took an already complicated policy and turned it upside down. Here, we untangle the opaque way Pruitt rigged the system for his fossil fuel friends and what this means for the ongoing RFS rulemaking.<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Pruitt pulling strings for polluters</h3>Last year Pruitt, acting on behalf of some oil refineries, <a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/pruitt-steps-up-his-attack-on-biofuel-policies" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">tried to roll back the standard through a rulemaking process</a>, but his efforts were blocked by the political power of the ethanol industry and its backers in the Senate. But when Pruitt was blocked through the normal administrative process, he did the administrative equivalent of slashing tires, abusing a previously obscure provision to hand out exemptions to individual oil refiners at an unprecedented pace, and claiming the details and the reasoning are confidential business information not subject to public comment or even Congressional oversight.The specific mechanism Pruitt used to make this change is called the Small Refinery Exemption (SRE), which is a provision of the law that allows EPA to exempt a small refiner from compliance with the standard in cases of disproportionate economic hardship. Until Pruitt assumed control of EPA, this provision had been used sparingly, which makes sense because the cost of complying with the RFS applies to all refiners equally, so in general the economic impact is exactly proportionate. But with Pruitt at the helm, EPA approved most of the SRE applications it received, reducing the standard by more than 7% compared to the volumes EPA had mandated (See this excellent <a href="https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2018/07/epa-2019-rfs-proposed-rulemaking-what-you-see-is-not-what-you-get.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">FarmDocDaily</a> article for the details)The impacts of these decisions are wide-ranging:<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Free lunch for small refiners</h3>Some refiners enjoyed windfall profits, since the waiver gives them a significant competitive advantage over other refiners, who were not exempted. The market price for gasoline and diesel includes the cost of complying with the RFS, so refiners that get a waiver still sell their product for this price, without bearing the cost of compliance, which basically amounts to free money, courtesy of Scott Pruitt. Some of the <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biofuels-epa-icahn-exclusive/exclusive-u-s-epa-grants-biofuels-waiver-to-billionaire-icahns-oil-refinery-sources-idUSKBN1I10YB" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">beneficiaries of this largess included Carl Icahn</a>, friend of the President and former adviser on regulations. Others <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biofuels-epa-refineries-exclusive/exclusive-epa-gives-giant-refiner-a-hardship-waiver-from-regulation-idUSKCN1HA21P" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">getting a break include Andeavor</a>, one of the largest refiners, who apparently qualified based on individual refineries that are below the size cutoff. <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biofuels-epa-refineries-exclusive/exclusive-chevron-exxon-seek-small-refinery-waivers-from-u-s-biofuels-law-idUSKBN1HJ32R" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">Exxon Mobil and Chevron have reportedly also filed applications</a> to exempt some of their smaller facilities.<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cellulosic fuels and biodiesel take a hit</h3>The immediate impact of SREs on the use of biofuels is complicated. It might seem that ethanol use would fall in line with the RFS standards, but for economic and technical reasons ethanol use is likely to remain very close to 10 percent of gasoline use, regardless of changes in the RFS, at least in the near term. Instead it is biodiesel that likely takes the biggest hit. This is because SREs includes reductions in advanced biofuels and bio-based diesel, and also because <a href="https://farmdocdaily.illinois.edu/2017/07/filling-the-gaps-renewable-fuel-standard-biodiesel.html" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">biodiesel has been filling the gap between the conventional ethanol mandate and the E10 blend wall</a>, which would stop if the SREs push ethanol mandates below the blend wall.The standard for non-food based cellulosic biofuels, which Pruitt had already reduced by more than 7% in 2018 compared to 2017, was effectively further reduced by about another 8% by SREs.<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.2em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Long term ramifications for compliance and certainty</h3>Much of the impact of the SREs will be felt in future years. The RFS allows refiners to save extra credits for use in future years. In EPA’s proposal they revealed that banked credits increased by 38% last year, to more than 3 billion gallons worth. These banked credits will be used to reduce refiners’ compliance obligations for years into the future.<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.2em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">The big loser is fact-based policy-making</h3>In the midst of the political train wreck that the RFS has become, it’s easy to lose sight of the basic goals the policy was meant to advance: to cut oil use and promote the development of low carbon biofuels. However, Pruitt left in the middle of a rulemaking process in which stakeholders were asked to comment on a <a href="https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-07-10/pdf/2018-14448.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">proposal</a> that claimed to be increasing the use of biofuels, when agency actions are actually decreasing biofuel use! Here’s the math:<ul style="margin: 0px 0px 10px 20px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 40px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 30px;">EPA proposes a 590-million-gallon increase in biofuels use, about 3 percent more than 2018</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 30px;">However, if EPA continues to grant SREs at the same pace and without reallocating the volumes, the result will be to weaken the standards by about 8 percent</li><li style="margin: 0px 0px 5px 8px; padding: 0px; line-height: 30px;">Therefore, reductions in the RFS targets through the use of SREs is larger than the proposed increases of the targets</li></ul>Despite the huge impact SRE’s have on the RFS program, EPA specifically states that any comments on accounting for SRE will be ignored (page 32057).<blockquote style="margin: 0px; padding: 40px 20px 20px 60px; background: url(" https="https" www.ucsusa.org="www.ucsusa.org" sites="sites" default="default" themes="themes" primary="primary" images="images" bg-blockquote.png="bg-blockquote.png" em="em" no-repeat="no-repeat" rgb="rgb">EPA is not soliciting comments on how small refinery exemptions are accounted for in the percentage standards formulas in 40 CFR 80.1405, and any such comments will be deemed beyond the scope of this rulemaking.</blockquote>What is more frustrating is that the rulemaking docket reveals the agency almost did the right thing, which would have recognized the SREs in the rulemaking process and kept the RFS targets intact. A review of early drafts of the proposal by Reuters (<a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-biofuels-epa/epa-scraps-detailed-plan-to-force-u-s-refiners-to-blend-more-biofuels-idUSKBN1K12JX" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">here</a>) suggests that after returning from a tour of the Midwest, Pruitt was prepared to do just that. The consequence of reallocating the SREs would be that the overall RFS standards would be unaffected by the SREs, and instead any windfalls enjoyed by individual refineries would be made up by other refiners. Of course, the refineries were unhappy with this proposal. Refiners prefer their free lunch to be paid for by the biofuels industry, and started lobbying EPA furiously, with refinery state Senators Ted Cruz of Texas and Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania calling Scott Pruitt. After these calls, the proposal to reallocate the SREs was removed, just three days after it had been written.<h3 style="margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; padding: 0px; font-weight: 400; line-height: 1.2em; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">Cleaning up the mess</h3>Biofuels is a complicated and politically divisive topic, and it’s not just the ethanol industry and oil refiners who have concerns about the RFS. But the starting point for legitimate policy making is to present the facts clearly and allow for public review and comment. In the case of the RFS, that means explaining the administration’s position on small refinery exemptions, and how the treatment of small refineries will affect the quantity of biofuels used in the United States. <a href="https://www.ucsusa.org/sites/default/files/attach/2018/07/UCS-SRE-NODA-letter.pdf" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration-line: none; outline: 0px;">I have sent a letter</a> to Acting Administrator Wheeler requesting that he do just that.Acting Administrator Wheeler needs to clean up the mess left by former Administrator Pruitt. This requires not just arbitrating the disputes between the Texas and Iowa Congressional delegations, but also administering the laws as written and making policy decisions based on facts – can he rise to the challenge?8/18
<div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAAQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAB6BAgAEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjAAegQIABAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">EPA to keep pursuing biofuel changes under new leadership: Wheeler ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; 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padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5r6xwFAQBmkJ:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:5r6xwFAQBmkJ:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAAegQIABAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5r6xwFAQBmkJ:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:5r6xwFAQBmkJ:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAAegQIABAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Jul 24, 2018 - The biofuel industry had been hoping that Andrew Wheeler would drop some ... refiners to blend increasing amounts of biofuels like corn-based ethanol into ... the domestic biofuel blending quota, and anger the corn lobby by ...</a><div class="TXwUJf" style=""><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:5r6xwFAQBmkJ:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:5r6xwFAQBmkJ:https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-epa-biofuels/epa-to-keep-pursuing-biofuel-changes-under-new-leadership-wheeler-idUSKBN1KE2X6%2B%26cd%3D1%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAAegQIABAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Missing: <s>icahn</s> ‎| ‎Must include: ‎</a><a class="fl" href="https://www.google.com/search?sa=X&biw=1600&bih=763&q=andrew+wheeler+%22icahn%22+ethanol+lobby+biofuel&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQ5t4CMAB6BAgAEAc" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer;">icahn</a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAkQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAF6BAgJEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjABegQICRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Acting EPA Administrator Wheeler Approves Sorghum Oil Pathways ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">https://www.epa.gov/.../acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-path...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=andrew+wheeler+icahn+ethanol+lobby+biofuel&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF55i52dHcAhXQmq0KHTQMD_gQBQgkKAA&biw=1600&bih=763#" id="am-b1" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQ7B0wAXoECAkQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQqR8wAXoECAkQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xAe5urUo9A4J:https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:xAe5urUo9A4J:https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs%2B%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDABegQICRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xAe5urUo9A4J:https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:xAe5urUo9A4J:https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs%2B%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDABegQICRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Jul 24, 2018 - Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler addresses stakeholders at ... for U.S. sorghum farmers and our partners in the ethanol and biodiesel ...</a><div class="TXwUJf" style=""><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:xAe5urUo9A4J:https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs+&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:xAe5urUo9A4J:https://www.epa.gov/newsreleases/acting-epa-administrator-wheeler-approves-sorghum-oil-pathways-under-rfs%2B%26cd%3D2%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDABegQICRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Missing: <s>icahn</s> ‎<s>lobby</s></a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAgQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAJ6BAgIEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjACegQICBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Pruitt resigns, Wheeler to become acting administrator of the EPA</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">www.ethanolproducer.com/.../pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=andrew+wheeler+icahn+ethanol+lobby+biofuel&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF55i52dHcAhXQmq0KHTQMD_gQBQgkKAA&biw=1600&bih=763#" id="am-b2" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQ7B0wAnoECAgQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQqR8wAnoECAgQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:J6L67JPLE84J:www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:J6L67JPLE84J:www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa%2B%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDACegQICBAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:J6L67JPLE84J:www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:J6L67JPLE84J:www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa%2B%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDACegQICBAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Jul 5, 2018 - Deputy Administrator Andrew Wheeler is set to assume the role of ... by the biofuelsindustry for his mismanagement of the Renewable Fuel ...</a><div class="TXwUJf" style=""><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:J6L67JPLE84J:www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:J6L67JPLE84J:www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/15439/pruitt-resigns-wheeler-to-become-acting-administrator-of-the-epa%2B%26cd%3D3%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDACegQICBAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Missing: <s>icahn</s> ‎<s>lobby</s></a></div></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAcQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAN6BAgHEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refinery-exemptions-to-the-rfs" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refinery-exemptions-to-the-rfs&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjADegQIBxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Unwinding the Perverse Arithmetic of Scott Pruitt's Small Refinery ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">https://blog.ucsusa.org/.../unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refi...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=andrew+wheeler+icahn+ethanol+lobby+biofuel&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF55i52dHcAhXQmq0KHTQMD_gQBQgkKAA&biw=1600&bih=763#" id="am-b3" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQ7B0wA3oECAcQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQqR8wA3oECAcQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UnNRBNecFD0J:https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refinery-exemptions-to-the-rfs+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:UnNRBNecFD0J:https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refinery-exemptions-to-the-rfs%2B%26cd%3D4%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDADegQIBxAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UnNRBNecFD0J:https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refinery-exemptions-to-the-rfs+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:UnNRBNecFD0J:https://blog.ucsusa.org/jeremy-martin/unwinding-the-perverse-arithmetic-of-scott-pruitts-small-refinery-exemptions-to-the-rfs%2B%26cd%3D4%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDADegQIBxAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Jul 25, 2018 - Some of the beneficiaries of this largess included Carl Icahn, friend of ... It might seem that ethanol use would fall in line with the RFS ... The standard for non-food based cellulosic biofuels, which Pruitt ... Refiners prefer their free lunch to be paid for by the biofuels industry, and startedlobbying EPA furiously, ...</a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAYQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAR6BAgGEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/363337-thanks-to-the-farm-lobby-the-us-is-stuck-with-a-broken-ethanol" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/363337-thanks-to-the-farm-lobby-the-us-is-stuck-with-a-broken-ethanol&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjAEegQIBhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Thanks to the farm lobby, the US is stuck with a broken ethanol policy ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">thehill.com/.../363337-thanks-to-the-farm-lobby-the-us-is-stuck-with-a-broken-ethan...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=andrew+wheeler+icahn+ethanol+lobby+biofuel&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF55i52dHcAhXQmq0KHTQMD_gQBQgkKAA&biw=1600&bih=763#" id="am-b4" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQ7B0wBHoECAYQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQqR8wBHoECAYQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GM9hNwjeAzUJ:thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/363337-thanks-to-the-farm-lobby-the-us-is-stuck-with-a-broken-ethanol+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:GM9hNwjeAzUJ:thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/363337-thanks-to-the-farm-lobby-the-us-is-stuck-with-a-broken-ethanol%2B%26cd%3D5%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAEegQIBhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:GM9hNwjeAzUJ:thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/363337-thanks-to-the-farm-lobby-the-us-is-stuck-with-a-broken-ethanol+&cd=5&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:GM9hNwjeAzUJ:thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/363337-thanks-to-the-farm-lobby-the-us-is-stuck-with-a-broken-ethanol%2B%26cd%3D5%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAEegQIBhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Dec 6, 2017 - Thanks to the farm lobby, the US is stuck with a broken ethanol policy ... It turns out Icahnwas wrong. ... When people start talking about the “biofuel market,” it sets free-marketers, the oil industry and oil-state Republicans' teeth on edge. ... House on Syria Andrew Wheeler must reverse damage to American ...</a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAUQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAV6BAgFEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://www.fuelingusjobs.com/news" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://www.fuelingusjobs.com/news&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjAFegQIBRAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Latest News on Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the Fueling ...</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">www.fuelingusjobs.com/news</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=andrew+wheeler+icahn+ethanol+lobby+biofuel&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF55i52dHcAhXQmq0KHTQMD_gQBQgkKAA&biw=1600&bih=763#" id="am-b5" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQ7B0wBXoECAUQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQqR8wBXoECAUQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KKDoM61cBTMJ:www.fuelingusjobs.com/news+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:KKDoM61cBTMJ:www.fuelingusjobs.com/news%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAFegQIBRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:KKDoM61cBTMJ:www.fuelingusjobs.com/news+&cd=6&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:KKDoM61cBTMJ:www.fuelingusjobs.com/news%2B%26cd%3D6%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAFegQIBRAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">For both fans and foes of the mandate, Wheeler will be seen as a fresh face. ... July 2, 2018- The ethanol lobby and corn farmers are teaming up to keep the government mandated .... “Exclusive: U.S. EPA grantsbiofuels waiver to billionaire Icahn's oil refinery – sources.”. ...... ANDREW LANGER, OPINION CONTRIBUTOR.</a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAQQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAZ6BAgEEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="http://farmfutures.com/story-choice-pruitt-sends-rin-credit-price-downward-8-150519" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=http://farmfutures.com/story-choice-pruitt-sends-rin-credit-price-downward-8-150519&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjAGegQIBBAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Choice of Pruitt sends RIN credit price downward | Farm Futures</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; 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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Dec 12, 2016 - Refinery owners including Icahn attacked the EPA in the past year over .... ethanol lobbying group that opposes changes to the biofuel law, ...</a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAMQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAd6BAgDEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/does-ethanol-have-friend-trump" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/does-ethanol-have-friend-trump&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjAHegQIAxAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Does ethanol have a friend in Trump? | Farm Futures</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; 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cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Jan 24, 2017 - The EPA has wide power to set annual biofuel quotas -- even waiving the minimums set by the law. ... Icahn, who owns a majority stake in independent refiner CVR Energy Inc., ... Growth Energy, a Washington-based ethanol lobby group, ... Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler arrives for testimony ...</a></div></div></div></div><div class="g" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 26px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><div data-hveid="CAIQAA" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFSgAMAh6BAgCEAA"><div class="rc" style="position: relative;"><h3 class="r" style="font-weight: normal; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a href="https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQFjAIegQIAhAB" style="cursor: pointer; text-decoration-line: none;">Trump administration considering biofuel policy change | Farm Futures</a></h3><div class="s" style="max-width: 48em; line-height: 18px;"><div class="f hJND5c TbwUpd" style="height: 18px; line-height: 16px; white-space: nowrap;"><cite class="iUh30" style="font-style: normal;">https://www.farmfutures.com/.../trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-cha...</cite><div class="action-menu ab_ctl" style="display: inline; position: relative; margin: 1px 3px 0px; user-select: none; vertical-align: middle;"><a class="GHDvEf ab_button" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=andrew+wheeler+icahn+ethanol+lobby+biofuel&spell=1&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjF55i52dHcAhXQmq0KHTQMD_gQBQgkKAA&biw=1600&bih=763#" id="am-b8" aria-label="Result Options" aria-expanded="false" aria-haspopup="true" role="button" jsaction="m.tdd;keydown:m.hbke;keypress:m.mskpe" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQ7B0wCHoECAIQAg" style="border-radius: 0px; cursor: default; font-weight: bold; height: 12px; line-height: 27px; margin: 1px 0px 2px; min-width: 0px; padding: 0px; text-align: center; transition: none 0s ease 0s; user-select: none; background-image: none; border: 0px; box-shadow: 0px 0px 0px 0px; filter: none; width: 13px; text-decoration-line: none; display: inline-block;"><span class="mn-dwn-arw" style="border-color: rgb(0, 102, 33) transparent; border-style: solid; border-width: 5px 4px 0px; width: 0px; height: 0px; margin-left: 3px; top: 7.5px; margin-top: -4px; position: absolute; left: 0px;" /></a><div class="action-menu-panel ab_dropdown" role="menu" tabindex="-1" jsaction="keydown:m.hdke;mouseover:m.hdhne;mouseout:m.hdhue" data-ved="2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQqR8wCHoECAIQAw" style="background-image: initial; background-position: initial; background-size: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-attachment: initial; background-origin: initial; background-clip: initial; border: 1px solid rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2); padding: 0px; position: absolute; right: auto; top: 12px; z-index: 3; transition: opacity 0.218s ease 0s; box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) 0px 2px 4px; left: 0px; visibility: hidden;"><ol style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px;"><li class="action-menu-item ab_dropdownitem" role="menuitem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; list-style: none; user-select: none; cursor: pointer;"><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;" /></li></ol></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Sep 28, 2017 - Trump has repeatedly vowed to protect ethanol, assuring an Iowa crowd in ... But he brought in billionaire investor Icahn, a critic of the program, to advise ... On Tuesday, the EPA opened the door to lowering biofuel quotas after lobbying by ... Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler arrives for testimony ...</a></div></div></div></div><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">trade group</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">http://www.growthenergy.org/about-growth-energy/structure-members/our-members/</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">fulefix 2016</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Koch lobbyist to senators: Don’t reform biofuel mandates. Repeal them.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Posted by Jennifer A. Dlouhy Date: April 16, 2015</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">WASHINGTON — A plan to overhaul the nation’s biofuel mandates — instead of repealing them altogether — would do more harm than good, a Koch executive warned Congress on Thursday.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Philip Ellender, the president of Koch’s government affairs arm, took aim at legislation by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Pat Toomey, R-Pa., that would strip away government mandates for refiners to blend in traditional corn-based ethanol, while preserving quotas for more advanced biofuels that have been slower to enter commercial production.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">“Feinstein-Toomey would . . . turn the Renewable Fuel Standard into a real mandate with real economic consequences for consumers by banning the only economic form of ethanol today,” Ellender said in a letter to senators. “Repeal the entire RFS instead.”</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">The missive comes less than a week after the Environmental Protection Agency agreed to finalize 2014, 2015 and 2016 renewable fuel quotas as part of a deal settling an oil industry lawsuit.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Read more: EPA to set overdue biofuel quotas in deal with oil industry groups</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">That may have quelled some of the congressional push to alter the renewable fuel standard, which obligates refiners to add steadily increasing volumes of ethanol and other alternatives into the nation’s transportation fuel supply — as much as 36 billion gallons in 2022. Although Congress established the framework, the Environmental Protection Agency is tasked with establishing annual quotas for the four types of biofuels mandated under the law: traditional renewable fuel, advanced biofuels that aren’t derived from corn starch, biodiesel and cellulosic biofuel.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Refiners already turn to traditional ethanol as a low-cost way to add octane to fuel, Ellender notes, but are hitting a blend wall where they no longer can incorporate enough ethanol to meet the volumetric RFS targets without exceeding a 10 percent threshold acceptable for use in all cars and trucks.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Although new vehicles are being built and warranted for higher ethanol blends, warranty and liability concerns for older cars and trucks have helped diminish some retailers’ enthusiasm to sell a 15 percent blend known as E15.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">“Ethanol made from corn starch is by and large the most cost-effective way to achieve higher octane in gasoline,” Ellender writes. “The reality is that there is virtually no cellulosic ethanol being made today and very little other advanced biofuels (that) are more expensive than ethanol made from corn starch.”</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">The Koch executive suggests that the Feinstein-Toomey bill — like its companion in the House — would make U.S. biofuels policy look more like the approach in California, which forces refiners to meet a low-carbon fuel standard.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Although one Koch-cited analysis puts the cost of compliance with the California low-carbon fuel standard as high as $1.06 per gallon by 2020, Ellender insists “the actual cost could be much higher if the rest of the nation goes on a low-carbon fuel diet via the Feinstein-Toomey legislation.”</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Supporters of the Feinstein-Toomey approach insist that the goal of the RFS was to use corn-based ethanol as a pathway to more advanced renewable fuels made from algae and other non-edible plant materials. Toomey argues that the current mandate essentially pits corn starch ethanol against other renewable fuels.</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Related story: Broad coalition takes aim at renewable fuel mandates</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">The result is that the RFS “has stunted the growth of environmentally friendly advanced biofuels like biodiesel and cellulosic ethanol,” Toomey said in February. “Once the mandate for corn ethanol is gone, the RFS program will be able to focus on those fuels that best reduce greenhouse gas emissions and don’t compete with our food supply.”</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">
</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">Several petroleum refiners are also big ethanol producers. For instance, San Antonio-based Valero Energy Corp. is the nation’s third-largest producer of renewable fuels. And Koch’s refining subsidiary, Flint Hills Resources, now owns seven ethanol plants, with Ellender insisting “we bought these ethanol plants despite the RFS — not because of it.”</a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;"></a><a class="fl" href="https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change+&cd=9&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us" ping="/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&url=https://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search%3Fq%3Dcache:vlu6b0kZKJAJ:https://www.farmfutures.com/energy/trump-administration-considering-biofuel-policy-change%2B%26cd%3D9%26hl%3Den%26ct%3Dclnk%26gl%3Dus&ved=2ahUKEwiuv7_A2dHcAhUBRqwKHfAZBRMQIDAIegQIAhAE" style="text-decoration-line: none; cursor: pointer; display: block; padding: 7px 18px; outline: 0px;">W</a><a href="https://www.fuelfreedom.org/koch-brothers-buying-ethanol-plants/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent Link: Why are the Koch brothers buying up ethanol plants?" style="font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; line-height: inherit; box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-stretch: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-decoration: none; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">hy are the Koch brothers buying up ethanol plants?</a><header class="entry-content-header" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 21.45px; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="post-meta-infos" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; position: relative; top: -8px; display: block;"><time class="date-container minor-meta updated" itemprop="datePublished" datetime="2015-02-04T16:33:26+00:00" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">February 4, 2015</time></header><div class="entry-content" itemprop="text" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 29px; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Flint Hills Resources, a biofuels company owned by the corporation controlled by brothers Charles and David Koch, has purchased its seventh ethanol plant.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">This week Flint Hills completed its acquisition of the plant near Camilla, Ga., from Southwest Georgia Ethanol. According to Flint Hills’ <a href="http://www.kochind.com/files/013015FHRAcquiresGeorgiaEthanolPlant.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">press release</a>, the plant produces about 120 million gallons of ethanol a year and employs about 60 people.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">As the <a href="http://www.kansas.com/news/business/agriculture/article8951726.html#storylink=cpy" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Wichita Eagle</a> notes, Flint Hills is now one of the largest ethanol producers in the country. Its biofuels business …<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(45, 92, 136); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">… has a combined annual capacity of 820 million gallons of ethanol, a biodiesel plant and investments in biofuels technology and feedstock development.</blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Considering that the entire ethanol industry produced 13.3 billions of fuel in 2013, Flint Hills now controls 6.2 percent of the U.S. market. Pretty substantial for an enterprise owned by Koch Industries, which  made the bulk of its vast fortune on oil.<p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">The Kochs are hardly greenies. According to a <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/inside-the-koch-brothers-toxic-empire-20140924?page=6" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Rolling Stone</a> story from last September:<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(45, 92, 136); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Thanks in part to its 2005 purchase of paper-mill giant Georgia-Pacific, Koch Industries dumps more pollutants into the nation’s waterways than General Electric and International Paper combined. The company ranks 13th in the nation for toxic air pollution. Koch’s climate pollution, meanwhile, outpaces oil giants including Valero, Chevron and Shell. Across its businesses, Koch generates 24 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year.</blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">A 2011 story by the <a href="http://www.publicintegrity.org/2011/04/06/3936/kochs-web-influence" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Center for Public Integrity</a> contends that while oil is the “core of the Koch business empire,” its influence extends much further.<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(45, 92, 136); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Koch companies trade carbon emission credits in Europe and derivatives in the U.S. They make jet fuel in Alaska from North Slope oil, and gasoline in Minnesota from the oil sands of Canada. They raise cattle in Montana and manufacture spandex in China, ethanol in Iowa, fertilizer in Trinidad, nylon in Holland, napkins in France and toilet paper in Wisconsin.</blockquote><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Since federal guidelines call for a certain amount of ethanol to be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply, investing in ethanol might be a simple hedge, the story says.<blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 1em 1em 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 20px; border-width: 0px 0px 0px 7px; border-left-style: solid; border-color: rgb(45, 92, 136); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 0.85em; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><em style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">“New or emerging markets, such as renewable fuels, are an opportunity for us to create value within the rules the government sets,” Flint Hills Resources President Brad Razook told his employees … </blockquote></div><footer class="entry-footer" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-stretch: inherit; line-height: 21.45px; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="blog-tags minor-meta" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"><strong style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Tags:<span style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;"> <a href="https://www.fuelfreedom.org/tag/economy-featured/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Economy</a>, <a href="https://www.fuelfreedom.org/tag/ethanol/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Ethanol</a>, <a href="https://www.fuelfreedom.org/tag/ethanol-plants/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">ethanol plants</a>, <a href="https://www.fuelfreedom.org/tag/koch-brothers/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Koch brothers</a>, <a href="https://www.fuelfreedom.org/tag/koch-industries/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Koch Industries</a>,<a href="https://www.fuelfreedom.org/tag/renewable-fuel-standard/" rel="tag" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px rgb(225, 225, 225); font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; line-height: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; outline: 0px; max-width: 100%; text-rendering: optimizeLegibility; -webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased;">Renewable Fuel Standard</a></footer>http://www.triplepundit.com/2016/01/ethanol-iowa-and-elections/A strange <a href="http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/major-new-iowa-statewide-tv-ad-buy-shines-spotlight-on-corn-ethanols-environmental-toll-300209120.html" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">press release</a> crossed my desk today, from the American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF). The conservative think tank was tooting its horn about a new ad campaign it launched in Iowa to educate people on the environmental ills of ethanol. Pro-growth economists touting anti-corn environmentalism in Iowa. What?Ethanol has always been a sticky wicket for environmentalists. While biofuels are absolutely a viable source of energy for transportation, ethanol usually comes from corn, which might not be the most efficient stock for the fuel. Commercial corn is a mono-crop, so support for this cash crop mostly means supporting a type of farming at odds with sustainable agriculture. Corn farming contributes to water pollution and algal blooms from pesticides and fertilizers, respectively.On the other hand, we need to get off oil, and ethanol has a lower global warming potential than fossil fuels. But from a systems-thinking perspective, it can be a tough pill to swallow to use a food source to make energy when hundreds of millions of people don’t have enough food to eat.So, why ethanol? Well, that’s a political story. Iowa has produced more corn than any other state for at least the last 20 years:<a href="http://www.iowacorn.org/en/corn_use_education/faq/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;"> 2.4 billion bushels of corn in 2014</a>, three times as much as the whole country of Mexico. Iowa also happens to be home to the first official vote in the presidential primaries. That’s why so much money and political attention flows into a state with 3.1 million residents (about 1 percent of the U.S. population). So, it’s safe to say that no one wants to mess with Iowa’s farmers.But does anyone outside the industry really love ethanol? The subsidies the industry has received as a part of the <a href="http://www.epa.gov/renewable-fuel-standard-program/program-overview-renewable-fuel-standard-program" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Renewable Portfolio Standard</a> keep it cheaper than oil — which makes it a threat to oil. It turns out ethanol has also caught the ire of the recreational boat people and the trade association for chain restaurants. Which is how we come to have the ACCF blasting the Iowa airwaves with an environmental screed against ethanol <a href="http://www.uspresidentialelectionnews.com/2016-presidential-primary-schedule-calendar/2016-iowa-caucuses/" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">six days</a>before the Iowa caucuses.<div class="embed-responsive embed-responsive-16by9" style="box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; height: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 421.875px; overflow: hidden; line-height: 25.7143px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">n case you  were wondering, the ACCF does not have a strong record on the environment. In fact, <a href="http://accf.org/opinion-californias-ab-32-is-a-losing-climate-bet/" style="line-height: 28.5px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">it fought against AB 32</a>, California’s landmark cap-and trade-bill, in 2012. Greenpeace calls it a “Koch Industries Climate Denial Front Group” because the famous brothers — key funders of the right-wing infrastructure — have <a href="http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/global-warming/climate-deniers/front-groups/american-council-on-capital-formation-accf/" style="line-height: 28.5px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">donated $375,000</a> to the group over the years. Here’s what Source Watch <a href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Council_for_Capital_Formation" style="line-height: 28.5px; box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">has to say </a>about ACCF:</div><blockquote style="box-sizing: border-box; padding: 12.5px 25px; margin: 0px 0px 30px; border-left: 5px solid rgb(238, 238, 238); line-height: 28.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) is a <a title="Think tanks" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Think_tanks" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">think tank</a> that prides itself on “economic growth through sound tax, regulatory, and environmental policies.” ACCF is a very influential in Washington D.C. with ACCF’s President Mark Bloomfield as being, “one of the most influential figures operating behind the scenes in the Congress,” <a title="Robert Novak" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Robert_Novak" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Robert Novak</a>, 1997.ACCF has a <a class="new" title="Conservative (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Conservative&action=edit&redlink=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">conservative</a> perspective of economic policy and favors policies that favor big business. ACCF’s <a class="external text" href="http://www.accf.org/directors.php" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Officers and Board of Directors</a> included former high-ranking politicians (predominantly Republican) in the U.S. government along with representatives of industry associations, including individuals from the <a title="American Petroleum Institute" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Petroleum_Institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">American Petroleum Institute</a>, <a class="new" title="Principal Financial Group (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Principal_Financial_Group&action=edit&redlink=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Principal Financial Group</a>, <a title="American Chemistry Council" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Chemistry_Council" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">American Chemistry Council</a>,<a title="American Farm Bureau Federation" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Farm_Bureau_Federation" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">American Farm Bureau Federation</a>, <a class="new" title="American Business Conference (page does not exist)" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=American_Business_Conference&action=edit&redlink=1" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">American Business Conference</a>, <a class="mw-redirect" title="American Forest & Paper Association" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Forest%26_Paper_Association" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">American Forest & Paper Association</a>, <a title="Edison Electric Institute" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Edison_Electric_Institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Edison Electric Institute</a>, the <a title="National Rural Electric Cooperative Association" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/National_Rural_Electric_Cooperative_Association" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">National Rural Electric Cooperative Association</a> and other pro-industry <a class="mw-redirect" title="Trade association" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Trade_association" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">trade associations</a> and<a title="Corporation" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Corporation" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">corporations</a>. Individuals from the <a title="American Enterprise Institute" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/American_Enterprise_Institute" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">American Enterprise Institute</a>, and the <a class="mw-redirect" title="Hoover Institution" href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/Hoover_Institution" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">Hoover Institution</a> are members of ACCF’s Board of Scholars.</blockquote>So, why did these guys release a pro-environment screed against ethanol? As usual, wherever there are Koch ties, there is something fishy going on.In this case, ACCF is representing the National Marine Manufacturers Association (<a href="https://www.nmma.org/" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">NMMA</a>) and the National Council of Chain Restaurants (<a href="https://nrf.com/who-we-are/retail-communities/chain-restaurants-nccr" target="blank" rel="nofollow" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">NCCR</a>) on this ad campaign. NMMA is the trade association for recreational boating. Why the heck do boaters care about ethanol? Well, it turns out that ethanol can <a href="https://www.nmma.org/assets/cabinets/Cabinet515/Marine_Outboard_Driveability_Assessment.pdf" style="box-sizing: border-box; text-decoration: none; background-color: transparent;">stall engines of outboard motors</a>. No wonder the recreational boating people don’t like it.The restaurant industry, NCCR, obviously has a stake in corn prices, since they will impact the raw cost of goods throughout the food sector from high-fructose corn syrup, the main ingredient in everything from soda to beef, which mostly eats corn these days. If corn is used for ethanol, that will, they fear, raise food prices.None of the three groups is particularly environmentally-focused. So, why focus on the environment in their ad? Well, “Ethanol is bad for our business interests,” doesn’t have the same ring to it. It comes down to business as usual, which is to say, “money talks.”The following is written by Ben Richardson, based on his new book <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sugar-Ben-Richardson/dp/0745680151/?tag=alternorg08-20" style="">Sugar</a> [2] (Polity, 2015):Class, gender, nationality and race structure sugar's unequal production, exchange and consumption across the world. This can be seen most vividly in the corporeal effects of sugar: the <a href="http://www.fairfood.org/sugarcane-workers-and-chronic-kidney-disease/" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">new type of chronic kidney disease</a> [3] striking down sugarcane field workers in Central America, the high rate of <a href="http://www.alternet.org/print/books/our-unhealthy-addiction-sugar-harming-poor-and-making-rich-richer#.VelzOflViko" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">prostitution and HIV</a> in sugar towns in Zambia, and the disproportionate level of <a href="https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/sites/default/files/PW_OH_Chew-On-This.pdf" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">tooth decay</a> [4] among poor and Hispanic children in Colorado, US. The circulation of sugar is also embodied in the landscape with unequal effects on wildlife. Fertilizer run-off from sugar farming has contributed to the <a href="http://www.news-mail.com.au/news/sugar-farmers-major-culprits-reef-pollution/2672821/" style="">degradation of the Great Barrier Reef</a> [5] in Queensland and the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/on-the-shores-of-the-arabian-sea-pollution-erodes-a-way-of-life/2015/03/14/a1904314-c769-11e4-bea5-b893e7ac3fb3_story.html" style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">destruction of fisheries</a> [6] in the Indus delta (by contrast, the sugarcane plantations have provided welcoming habitats for rats and snakes). Yet these environmental changes are also social. In the case of water pollution, those worst affected have tended to be indigenous people and artisanal fisherfolk traditionally dependent on communal resources for drinking and fishing.So to really get at the global politics of sugar, the essential question for me was “why does it harm some more than others?”By starting with social relations, I diverged from two standard approaches. The first of these has addressed the poverty-inducing effects of sugar and framed it as an issue of international trade. This stems from the curious situation whereby exactly the same product, refined sugar, can be made from two entirely different crops. These are the grass crop sugarcane which is grown in tropical climates, and the root crop sugar beet which is grown in temperate climates. The near universal ability to grow these crops has allowed governments across the world to build up a domestic sugar industry by protecting markets from imports and supporting producers with favourable prices.There are now an estimated <a href="http://www.ibisworld.com/industry/global/global-sugar-manufacturing.html" style="">1.1 million jobs in sugar manufacturing</a> [7] and tens of millions more in sugar farming scattered over 120 countries in the world. Moreover, sugar is considered by the World Bank to be the second most protected agricultural commodity in the world behind rice. In 2008 the level of import tariffs and domestic subsidies on sugar accounted for almost <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CCcQFjAAahUKEwjuldjSyN3HAhXDPxoKHXUMAgk&url=http%3A%2F%2Fsiteresources.worldbank.org%2FINTWDR2008%2FResources%2FWDR_00_book.pdf&usg=AFQjCNGsufbz4RbtyGJ-h4-4vmcVWSc6Kg&sig2=L0bPdgoqChoQrtUnmnRSLQ" style="">one fifth of all agricultural support</a> [8] – that amounts to a lot of redistributive tax!The injustice that both free traders and development campaigners have pointed out is that protectionist policies seem largely to benefit sugar producers in developed countries. They argue that by keeping out exports from developing countries, trade barriers have denied poor people the chance to trade their way out of poverty and thus confined them to a life of hunger. Or as the Wall Street Journal once pithily put it: “<a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB1032128964707805675" style="">Addiction to sugar subsidies chokes poor nations’ exports</a> [9].”While trade protection remains important in shaping who benefits from sugar production, the idea that the industry is controlled by wealthy farmers in the European Union (EU) and the US is increasingly untenable. First, significant steps towards liberalisation have happened over the last two decades, turning the EU into a net sugar importer for the first time since the 1970s and opening up the US to unlimited imports from Mexico (whilst sending increased amounts of processed food and High Fructose Corn Syrup the other way). In fact, the US is consistently one of the world’s biggest importers of sugar.Second, demand for sugar has grown most rapidly in Asia, Africa and Latin America, leading to a steady shift to sugarcane planting in the Global South over the last six decades. Brazil, India, China and Thailand are now the production powerhouses of the global sugar economy.The third problem with the trade protectionism argument is that they treat countries as homogenous units rather than hierarchical societies. Since there is significant inequality within countries as well as between them focusing on which country sugar is produced in only gives us part of the picture.There are many examples of men (and they are usually men) in developing countries who have become fantastically wealthy through sugar while their fellow citizens languish in poverty. Two of the richest people the world in fact built their business empires on the back of sugar trading enterprises: the Nigerian Aliko Dangote now worth an estimated $25 billion and the Malaysian Robert Kuok worth $12 billion. Others have found their fortunes as sugar industrialists. The Brazilian Rubens Ometto Silveria Mello, worth $2 billion, made his money at the helm of a sugarcane milling company and was dubbed “<a href="http://www.forbes.com/profile/rubens-ometto-silveira-mello/" style="">the world’s first ethanol billionaire</a> [10]”.Beyond those agri-businesses selling sugar as an ingredient, there are those re-selling it in the form of manufactured foods and drinks. These include Western-based multinational corporations like Coca-Cola, Hershey’s, Kellogg’s, Mars, Mondelez, Nestlé, PepsiCo and Unilever. Together these companies made over $50 billion profit in 2013; a handsome return for their managers and shareholders. (Did you know that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, despite its stated goal to improve global health, holds <a href="http://www.nasdaq.com/quotes/institutional-portfolio/bill--melinda-gates-foundation-trust-98131" style="">stock in Coca-Cola, Mars, Wal-Mart and Kraft-Heinz</a> [11] worth over a billion dollars?!). These examples of wealth accumulation all belie the idea that we can determine who benefits from sugar simply by looking at national levels of output and export.The second approach to sugar politics has addressed its adverse health effects. If the injustices of sugar production have been framed as a problem of trade protectionism then those relating to consumption have been framed, quite separately, as a problem of corporate manipulation. These companies are charged with purposefully misleading the public into dangerous eating habits. On the one hand, they manufacture and market foods high in sugar, salt and fat, and on the other hand, lobby governments to water down dietary guidelines and labelling regulations.Like the literature on trade protectionism though, while it contains some important insights, as a political critique this approach also has its limitations. First, it tends to ignore the countervailing appeal of diets and detoxes popular in the media. Among these are Atkins, Dukan, Glycaemic Index, paleo and No Sugar, all of which have changed the consumption of sugar either by discriminating against sucrose or shifting eating habits away from sweetened foods altogether. Studies which focus only on the dominance of corporations thus miss these forms of (typically feminised) agency and marginalise the response of companies to it. Product reformulation using artificial sweeteners and the takeover of health conscious brands have been particularly common strategies, although by no means a solution to the spread of diet-related disease.Second, these studies are divorced from issues of production. One of the biggest developments in recent years has been the growth of the ethanol biofuel market. By 2013 fully 15 per cent of global sugarcane production was turned into ethanol; a proportion which is expected to almost double over the next decade. Meanwhile, the masses of corn grown in the US that have been diverted into biofuel production has put inflationary pressure on the price of High Fructose Corn Syrup, making it <a href="http://www.foodnavigator-usa.com/Suppliers2/Coca-Cola-pinched-by-high-HFCS-prices" style="">less competitive compared to sugar</a> [12] in the North American sweetener market. Ignoring these dynamics blinkers us to which agricultural crops end up in our food, in what form, and why.Third, this account has little to say about the prospects for conscious political change. For example, in his otherwise excellent book Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us, the journalist Michael Moss concludes by putting his faith in enlightened shopping to save the day. In his closing paragraph, he argues that:They [the major food corporations] may have salt, sugar and fat on their side, but, we, ultimately, have the power to make choices. After all, we decide what to buy. We decide how much to eat.Not only is this is perverse conclusion to reach after spending the previous 346 pages detailing the myriad ways that American consumers have virtually no meaningful choice over what they eat, it also rules out other sources of change and ways of acting. By reducing politics to individual choice at the checkout and starving it of its collective character and varied institutional expression, accounts like the one given by Moss may do more harm than good.So how should the global politics of sugar be approached instead? My book proceeds from two foundations. The first is that the circulation of sugar is deeply structured by capitalism. Since the 1990s this has been entrenched on a global scale. The North American Free Trade Agreement and the formation of the World Trade Organisation have undermined national farm policy, while the industrialisation of China and marketization of food provisioning across the Global South has underpinned a seismic ‘nutrition transition’. Through these changes and more, the reach and use of sugar has been transformed. As such, a critical analysis of capitalism is necessary not for advocating Communist revolution of the food system (“Eaters of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your fast-food chains!”) but to appreciate why this system has led to social inequality and political crisis.Inequality is reproduced in many ways; from under-paying easily exploitable farm workers like migrants and women, to disproportionately marketing processed sweetened foods to racial minorities and children. Likewise, the over-production of sugar has led to systematic contradictions including <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/commodities/11753275/First-gold-now-why-is-the-Sugar-price-collapsing.html" style="">periodic market crashes</a> [13] and exacerbating <a href="http://www.idf.org/worlddiabetesday/toolkit/gp/facts-figures" style="">a global diabetes epidemic</a> [14]. These in turn have produced crises (a farm crisis, a health crisis) which state authorities have been called upon to manage. And contrary to the common assertion that equates capitalism with free markets, it is often capitalists themselves have called for state intervention, either to make a market function in their interests or else protect them from the vagaries of it.At the same time as taking global capitalism seriously, it is also important not to ascribe it with uniform and omnipresent characteristics. Capitalism need not be a single fate. This refers both to the different ways in which capitalist economies can be organised and the limits to which capitalist principles of private property, commodification and endless accumulation extend. Think of the bake-a-cake sales that raise millions for charity. These are just as much part of the economy as a factory making chocolate bars or a futures exchange trading sugar contracts. What this second foundation does then is to create some room for human agency, without which every eventuality would be boiled down to the inner workings of capital – no better than other <a href="https://canvas.brown.edu/courses/917713/files/42800997/download?wrap=1" style="">deterministic accounts of sugar</a> [15] which ascribe everything to its irresistible sweetness or the characteristics of the cane plant.Progressive political change is not about changing people’s relationship to sugar per se but changing our relationships to one another. Reducing sugar consumption may lower some people’s risk of diabetes, but if those same people remain reliant on poor quality food then it is likely that they will suffer from other forms of diet-related ill-health instead. Similarly, increasing crop productivity through high-yielding seeds may help farmers make a decent living, but only insofar as they are not then subject to price cuts by other businesses in the supply-chain.I argue that this change comes about through site-specific struggles to value life differently. They are site-specific because they take different forms in different places – a campaign against child advertising here, a protest against water pollution there. But what they have in common is a desire to govern by a different metric, one that recognises values beyond ‘the bottom line’; be it the sanctity of childhood or the preservation of the environment. These contestations might cohere into broader systemic change that would make sugar provisioning more ecologically sound and socially just. This is a move that, I believe, must ultimately challenge the profit-driven organisation of food and farming itself.<h3 class="yiv7016717873null" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1433521452971_26504" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; line-height: 22.5px; letter-spacing: -0.5px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><a rel="nofollow" target="blank" href="http://ecowatch.us7.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=214ab5fbb3f6015d74ffab4ec&id=6a813824d5&e=c2e8fdabfa" id="yui_3_16_0_1_1433521452971_26503" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; outline: none; word-wrap: break-word; background: transparent;">Corn Ethanol Is Worse for the Climate Than the Keystone XL Pipeline, According to EPA’s Own Estimates</a></h3><div>6/15</div><div>http://ecowatch.com/2015/06/02/corn-ethanol-climate-change/</div><a href="http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/independent-study-says-ethanol-does-not-qualify-renewable-fuel">http://www.alternet.org/news-amp-politics/independent-study-says-ethanol-does-not-qualify-renewable-fue</a>lEthanol and other biofuels made from corn contribute more to climate change than gasoline in the short term, according to a study released by the journal Nature Climate Change.The study challenges the Obama admistration's assertions that ethanol and other biofuel derivatives from corn are a cleaner gasoline alternative that will help fight climate change by reducing the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere.The peer-reviewed study, which cost $500,000 and was paid for with a federal grant, concludes that biofuels made with corn byproducts release 7% more greenhouse gases in the early years compared with conventional gasoline. Thus, they don't even come close to meeting current federal standards to qualify as a renewable fuel source.The federal government has given more than $1 billion to companies producing cellulosic biofuels because of their status as a renewable fuel source....The report, released Sunday, was immediately criticized by producers of cellulosic biofuels and the Obama administration, who claim the research presents flawed data.The study, led by researchers at the University of Nebraska, is one of the first to quantify how much carbon is dispersed into the atmosphere when corn residue is removed and used to make biofuel, instead of left on farm fields to replenish them with carbon. The Environmental Protection Agency previously conducted a similar analysis and found that biofuels made from corn residue do meet federal renewable fuel standards. Renewable cellulosic biofuels must release 60% less carbon pollutants than gasoline to qualify. If a biofuel doesn't meet that standard, it would be hard to produce and sell, as the industry relies on government subsidies of $1 per gallon.Last year, the Associated Press published an article where it revealed that the EPA analysis of corn-based biofuels did not correctly assess the environmental consequences.Despite the study's harsh findings, its researchers claim that corn-based biofuels still hold promise as a greener alternative to gasoline in the long term.  ===

2011 end subsidies: lcv

<a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2011-90-ending-ethanol-subsidies">http://scorecard.lcv.org/roll-call-vote/2011-90-ending-ethanol-subsidies</a>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1996" sort="Sessions, Jeff" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/jeff-sessions" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Sessions, Jeff</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1996" sort="AlabamaSessions, Jeff" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">AL<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1996" sort="0AlabamaSessions, Jeff" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName2000" sort="Shelby, Richard C." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/richard-c-shelby" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Shelby, Richard C.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState2000" sort="AlabamaShelby, Richard C." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">AL<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice2000" sort="0AlabamaShelby, Richard C." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1561" sort="Begich, Mark" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/mark-begich" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Begich, Mark</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1561" sort="AlaskaBegich, Mark" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">AK<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1561" sort="0AlaskaBegich, Mark" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1889" sort="Murkowski, Lisa A." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/lisa-murkowski" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: none;">Murkowski, Lisa A.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1889" sort="AlaskaMurkowski, Lisa A." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">AK<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1889" sort="0AlaskaMurkowski, Lisa A." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1856" sort="McCain, John" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/john-mccain" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">McCain, John</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1856" sort="ArizonaMcCain, John" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">AZ<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1856" sort="0ArizonaMcCain, John" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1583" sort="Boozman, John N." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/john-n-boozman" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Boozman, John N.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1583" sort="ArkansasBoozman, John N." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">AR<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1583" sort="0ArkansasBoozman, John N." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1934" sort="Pryor, Mark" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/mark-pryor" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Pryor, Mark</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1934" sort="ArkansasPryor, Mark" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">AR<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1934" sort="0ArkansasPryor, Mark" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1588" sort="Boxer, Barbara" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/barbara-boxer" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Boxer, Barbara</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1588" sort="CaliforniaBoxer, Barbara" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">CA<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1588" sort="0CaliforniaBoxer, Barbara" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1697" sort="Feinstein, Dianne" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/dianne-feinstein" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Feinstein, Dianne</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1697" sort="CaliforniaFeinstein, Dianne" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">CA<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1697" sort="0CaliforniaFeinstein, Dianne" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1563" sort="Bennet, Michael" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/michael-bennet" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Bennet, Michael</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1563" sort="ColoradoBennet, Michael" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">CO<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1563" sort="0ColoradoBennet, Michael" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName2038" sort="Udall, Mark E." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/mark-e-udall" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Udall, Mark E.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState2038" sort="ColoradoUdall, Mark E." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">CO<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice2038" sort="0ColoradoUdall, Mark E." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1577" sort="Blumenthal, Richard" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/richard-blumenthal" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Blumenthal, Richard</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1577" sort="ConnecticutBlumenthal, Richard" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">CT<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1577" sort="0ConnecticutBlumenthal, Richard" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1833" sort="Lieberman, Joe" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/joe-lieberman" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Lieberman, Joe</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1833" sort="ConnecticutLieberman, Joe" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">CT<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1833" sort="0ConnecticutLieberman, Joe" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1617" sort="Carper, Tom" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/tom-carper" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Carper, Tom</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1617" sort="DelawareCarper, Tom" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">DE<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1617" sort="0DelawareCarper, Tom" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1647" sort="Coons, Chris" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/chris-coons" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Coons, Chris</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1647" sort="DelawareCoons, Chris" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">DE<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1647" sort="0DelawareCoons, Chris" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1897" sort="Nelson, Bill" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/bill-nelson" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Nelson, Bill</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1897" sort="FloridaNelson, Bill" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">FL<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1897" sort="0FloridaNelson, Bill" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1969" sort="Rubio, Marco" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/marco-rubio" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Rubio, Marco</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1969" sort="FloridaRubio, Marco" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">FL<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1969" sort="0FloridaRubio, Marco" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1625" sort="Chambliss, Saxby" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/saxby-chambliss" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Chambliss, Saxby</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1625" sort="GeorgiaChambliss, Saxby" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">GA<span class="voteChoice vote-anti-env" id="voteChoice1625" sort="1GeorgiaChambliss, Saxby" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" anti-env-icon-20.png="anti-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1780" sort="Isakson, Johnny H." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/johnny-h-isakson" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Isakson, Johnny H.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1780" sort="GeorgiaIsakson, Johnny H." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">GA<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1780" sort="0GeorgiaIsakson, Johnny H." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1537" sort="Akaka, Daniel" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/daniel-akaka" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Akaka, Daniel</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1537" sort="HawaiiAkaka, Daniel" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">HI<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1537" sort="0HawaiiAkaka, Daniel" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1778" sort="Inouye, Daniel K." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/daniel-k-inouye" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Inouye, Daniel K.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1778" sort="HawaiiInouye, Daniel K." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">HI<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1778" sort="0HawaiiInouye, Daniel K." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1654" sort="Crapo, Michael D." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/michael-d-crapo" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Crapo, Michael D.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1654" sort="IdahoCrapo, Michael D." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">ID<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1654" sort="0IdahoCrapo, Michael D." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1950" sort="Risch, Jim" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/jim-risch" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Risch, Jim</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1950" sort="IdahoRisch, Jim" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">ID<span class="voteChoice vote-pro-env" id="voteChoice1950" sort="0IdahoRisch, Jim" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" pro-env-icon-20.png="pro-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1685" sort="Durbin, Dick" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/dick-durbin" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Durbin, Dick</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1685" sort="IllinoisDurbin, Dick" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">IL<span class="voteChoice vote-anti-env" id="voteChoice1685" sort="1IllinoisDurbin, Dick" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" anti-env-icon-20.png="anti-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1635" sort="Coats, Dan" style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/dan-coats" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Coats, Dan</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1635" sort="IndianaCoats, Dan" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">IN<span class="voteChoice vote-anti-env" id="voteChoice1635" sort="1IndianaCoats, Dan" style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" anti-env-icon-20.png="anti-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1842" sort="Lugar, Richard G." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/richard-g-lugar" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Lugar, Richard G.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1842" sort="IndianaLugar, Richard G." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">IN<span class="voteChoice vote-anti-env" id="voteChoice1842" sort="1IndianaLugar, Richard G." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" anti-env-icon-20.png="anti-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

<div class="tableRow dataItem" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 14px; height: 32px; clear: both; width: 680px; overflow: hidden; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);"><span class="mocName" id="mocName1729" sort="Grassley, Chuck E." style="margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 290px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;"><a href="http://scorecard.lcv.org/moc/chuck-e-grassley" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: inherit; text-decoration: underline;">Grassley, Chuck E.</a><span class="mocState" id="mocState1729" sort="IowaGrassley, Chuck E." style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 250px; display: block; height: 32px; float: left;">IA<span class="voteChoice vote-anti-env" id="voteChoice1729" sort="1IowaGrassley, Chuck E." style="margin-top: 6px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; border: 0px; outline: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; font-style: inherit; font-variant: inherit; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 32px; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; width: 34px; display: block; height: 26px; float: left; background-image: url(" margin-right="margin-right" px="px" important="important" padding-left="padding-left" http="http" scorecard.lcv.org="scorecard.lcv.org" sites="sites" all="all" themes="themes" lcv_scorecard="lcv_scorecard" images="images" anti-env-icon-20.png="anti-env-icon-20.png" background-repeat="background-repeat" no-repeat="no-repeat"> </div>

</div>

===http://www.growthenergy.org/about-growth-energy/structure-members/our-members/  bs---

opensecrets

<div class="asset-body" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; clear: both; line-height: 18px;">The leading ethanol trade association in Washington is aware that it's not the biggest name in town. In fact, when it rolled out its new campaign, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000045973" style="outline: none;">Growth Energy</a> did its best to portray itself as the little guy who just can't compete in Washington -- a little old trade group just sick of being pushed around by the oil industry.

</div>

<div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">“We understand we’re the little guy. We know we’re the underdog. It’s David versus Goliath. But the biofuels industry will no longer tolerate misleading information and nor should the American public," Growth Energy's press release reads. The new campaign, which includes a website the group has named <a href="http://www.yourenodummy.com/" target="blank" style="outline: none;">yourenodummy.com</a>, will push <a href="http://youtu.be/fq732c0QIsM" target="blank" style="outline: none;">a television ad</a>series telling viewers they're being treated like "dummies" by the oil industry, in an attempt to counteract that industry's effort to turn customers away from ethanol.</div>

</div>

</div>

<div style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The campaign appears to be trying to take the fight to the court of public opinion, rather than go head-to-head with oil money in Washington. That may be a wise strategy. Growth Energy may be the ethanol industry's version of the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000031493" style="outline: none;">American Petroleum Industry</a>, but it hasn't got a chance of outgunning Big Oil on the lobbying front.

</div>

</div>

<div style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">According to OpenSecrets.org data, Growth Energy has spent $640,000 on federal lobbying so far this year and $1.3 million in 2012, making it the 360th biggest spender on K Street out of 4,374 organizations ranked by CRP in 2012. The group is made up of roughly 80 ethanol plants scattered around the Midwest and another 82 "associate members" which include a number of well-known names in the agriculture and energy worlds -- like the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000023784" style="outline: none;">Agriculture Retailers Association</a>, <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000024672" style="outline: none;">CenterPoint Energy</a> and subsidiaries of Perdue and Dupont.

But the <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/orgs/summary.php?id=D000031493" style="outline: none;">American Petroleum Institute</a> has spent <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/lobby/clientsum.php?id=D000031493&year=2013" style="outline: none;">$4.1 million so far this year</a> and $7.3 million in 2012, good enough to rank the group as the 57th biggest spender. </div>

</div>

<div style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Growth Energy did match more closely with API in terms of campaign contributions last cycle. While API's PAC handed out $199,000 to federal candidates in the 2012 cycle, Growth Energy's gave $130,500. </div>

</div>

<div style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The two groups diverged, though, on where they directed their contributions. Neither is particularly beloved by environmentalists or closely associated with Democrats, but API barely seemed to bother trying to win over Democrats. Its PAC contributed <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00483677" style="outline: none;">just $44,500</a> to congressional Dems, with the remainder going to Republicans. Growth Energy also gave far more to House Republicans -- <a href="http://www.opensecrets.org/pacs/pacgot.php?cycle=2012&cmte=C00475665" style="outline: none;">$47,500 compared to $28,000</a> to House Democrats -- but in the Senate, showed a firm preference for the majority Democrats, giving them $38,500 compared to just $16,000 for Senate Republicans. </div>

</div>

<div style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Growth Energy's PAC spent more than it took in in 2012, with the PAC's total expenditures topping $200,000 while it collected only $163,700. The group had a cushion of cash to work with from the previous cycle, but so far in the 2014 cycle, it has raised just $7,500 and has only $17,000 in cash on hand.</div>

</div>

<div style=" margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">API's PAC, on the other hand, raised $233,000 in 2012, spent $212,000 and has already raised $80,500 so far this cycle. It has also already spent quite a bit of money this cycle, including $64,000 in contributions to members of Congress (with 82 percent going to Republicans), but still has more than $33,000 in cash on hand.</div>

</div>

===

<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-ethanol-scam-20110323">http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-ethanol-scam-20110323</a>

<h1>The Ethanol Scam</h1>

<h2>Politicians are high on turning corn into fuel — but ethanol not only hurts the environment, it's also one of America's biggest political boondoggles</h2>

<h3 class="byline">by: Jeff Goodell</h3><div class="body">

The great danger of confronting peak oil and global warming isn't that we will sit on our collective asses and do nothing while civilization collapses, but that we will plunge after "solutions" that will make our problems even worse. Like believing we can replace gasoline with ethanol, the much-hyped biofuel that we make from corn.

<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-dark-lord-of-coal-country-20101129">The Dark Lord of Coal Country</a>

Ethanol, of course, is nothing new. American refiners will produce nearly 6 billion gallons of corn ethanol this year, mostly for use as a gasoline additive to make engines burn cleaner. But in June, the Senate all but announced that America's future is going to be powered by biofuels, mandating the production of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022. According to ethanol boosters, this is the beginning of a much larger revolution that could entirely replace our 21-million-barrel-a-day oil addiction. Midwest farmers will get rich, the air will be cleaner, the planet will be cooler, and, best of all, we can tell those greedy sheiks to fuck off. As the king of ethanol hype, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, put it recently, "Everything about ethanol is good, good, good."

This article appeared in the <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/plus/archive#/2/516/C1/I">August 7, 2007</a> issue of Rolling Stone. The issue is available in the <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/plus/home">online archive</a>.

This is not just hype — it's dangerous, delusional bullshit. Ethanol doesn't burn cleaner than gasoline, nor is it cheaper. Our current ethanol production represents only 3.5 percent of our gasoline consumption — yet it consumes twenty percent of the entire U.S. corn crop, causing the price of corn to double in the last two years and raising the threat of hunger in the Third World. And the increasing acreage devoted to corn for ethanol means less land for other staple crops, giving farmers in South America an incentive to carve fields out of tropical forests that help to cool the planet and stave off global warming.

<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/lists/whos-to-blame-12-politicians-and-execs-blocking-progress-on-global-warming-20110119">12 Politicians and Execs Blocking Progress on Global Warming</a>

So why bother? Because the whole point of corn ethanol is not to solve America's energy crisis, but to generate one of the great political boondoggles of our time. Corn is already the most subsidized crop in America, raking in a total of $51 billion in federal handouts between 1995 and 2005 — twice as much as wheat subsidies and four times as much as soybeans. Ethanol itself is propped up by hefty subsidies, including a fifty-one-cent-per-gallon tax allowance for refiners. And a study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development found that ethanol subsidies amount to as much as $1.38 per gallon — about half of ethanol's wholesale market price.

<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-miracle-seeker-20101028">Q&A: Bill Gates on How to Stop Global Warming</a>

Three factors are driving the ethanol hype. The first is panic: Many energy experts believe that the world's oil supplies have already peaked or will peak within the next decade. The second is election-year politics. With the first vote to be held in Iowa, the largest corn-producing state in the nation, former skeptics like Sens. Hillary Clinton and John McCain now pay tribute to the wonders of ethanol. Earlier this year, Sen. Barack Obama pleased his agricultural backers in Illinois by co-authoring legislation to raise production of biofuels to 60 billion gallons by 2030. A few weeks later, rival Democrat John Edwards, who is staking his campaign on a victory in the Iowa caucus, upped the ante to 65 billion gallons by 2025.

<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/coals-toxic-sludge-20100317">Coal's Toxic Sludge</a>

The third factor stoking the ethanol frenzy is the war in Iraq, which has made energy independence a universal political slogan. Unlike coal, another heavily subsidized energy source, ethanol has the added political benefit of elevating the American farmer to national hero. As former CIA director James Woolsey, an outspoken ethanol evangelist, puts it, "American farmers, by making the commitment to grow more corn for ethanol, are at the top of the spear on the war against terrorism." If you love America, how can you not love ethanol?

Ethanol is nothing more than 180-proof grain alcohol. To avoid the prospect of drunks sucking on gas pumps, fuel ethanol is "denatured" with chemical additives (if you drink it, you'll end up dead or, at best, in the hospital). It can be distilled from a variety of plants, including sugar cane and switch- grass. Most vehicles can't run on pure ethanol, but E85, a mix of eighty-five percent ethanol and fifteen percent gasoline, requires only slight engine modifications.

But as a gasoline substitute, ethanol has big problems: Its energy density is one-third less than gasoline, which means you have to burn more of it to get the same amount of power. It also has a nasty tendency to absorb water, so it can't be transported in existing pipelines and must be distributed by truck or rail, which is tremendously inefficient.

Nor is all ethanol created equal. In Brazil, ethanol made from sugar cane has an energy balance of 8-to-1 — that is, when you add up the fossil fuels used to irrigate, fertilize, grow, transport and refine sugar cane into ethanol, the energy output is eight times higher than the energy inputs. That's a better deal than gasoline, which has an energy balance of 5-to-1. In contrast, the energy balance of corn ethanol is only 1.3-to-1 — making it practically worthless as an energy source. "Corn ethanol is essentially a way of recycling natural gas," says Robert Rapier, an oil-industry engineer who runs the R-Squared Energy Blog.

The ethanol boondoggle is largely a tribute to the political muscle of a single company: agribusiness giant Archer Daniels Midland. In the 1970s, looking for new ways to profit from corn, ADM began pushing ethanol as a fuel additive. By the early 1980s, ADM was producing 175 million gallons of ethanol a year. The company's then-chairman, Dwayne Andreas, struck up a close relationship with Sen. Bob Dole of Kansas, a.k.a. "Senator Ethanol." During the 1992 election, ADM gave $1 million to Dole and his friends in the GOP (compared with $455,000 to the Democrats). In return, Dole helped the company secure billions of dollars in subsidies and tax breaks. In 1995, the conservative Cato Institute, estimating that nearly half of ADM's profits came from products either subsidized or protected by the federal government, called the company "the most prominent recipient of corporate welfare in recent U.S. history."

Today, ADM is the leading producer of ethanol, supplying more than 1 billion gallons of the fuel additive last year. Ethanol is propped up by more than 200 tax breaks and subsidies worth at least $5.5 billion a year. And ADM continues to give back: Since 2000, the company has contributed $3.7 million to state and federal politicians.

The Iraq War has also been a boon for ADM and other ethanol producers. The Energy Policy Act of 2005, which was pushed by Corn Belt politicians, mandated the consumption of 7.5 billion gallons of biofuels by 2012. After Democrats took over Congress last year, they too vowed to "do something" about America's addiction to foreign oil. By the time Sen. Jeff Bingaman, chair of the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, proposed new energy legislation this spring, the only real question was how big the ethanol mandate would be. According to one lobbyist, 36 billion gallons became "the Goldilocks number — not too big to be impractical, not too small to satisfy corn growers."

Under the Senate bill, only 15 billion gallons of ethanol will come from corn, in part because even corn growers admit that turning more grain into fuel would disrupt global food supplies. The remaining 21 billion gallons will have to come from advanced biofuels, most of which are currently brewed only in small-scale lab experiments. "It's like trying to solve a traffic problem by mandating hovercraft," says Dave Juday, an independent commodities consultant. "Except we don't have hovercraft."

The most seductive myth about ethanol is that it will free us from our dependence on foreign oil. But even if ethanol producers manage to hit the mandate of 36 billion gallons of ethanol by 2022, that will replace a paltry 1.5 million barrels of oil per day — only seven percent of current oil needs. Even if the entire U.S. corn crop were used to make ethanol, the fuel would replace only twelve percent of current gasoline use.

Another misconception is that ethanol is green. In fact, corn production depends on huge amounts of fossil fuel — not just the diesel needed to plow fields and transport crops, but also the vast quantities of natural gas used to produce fertilizers. Runoff from industrial-scale cornfields also silts up the Mississippi River and creates a vast dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico every summer. What's more, when corn ethanol is burned in vehicles, it is as dirty as conventional gasoline and does little to solve global warming: E85 reduces carbon dioxide emissions by a modest fifteen percent at best, while fueling the destruction of tropical forests.

But the biggest problem with ethanol is that it steals vast swaths of land that might be better used for growing food. In a recent article in Foreign Affairs titled "How Biofuels Could Starve the Poor," University of Minnesota economists C. Ford Runge and Benjamin Senauer point out that filling the gas tank of an SUV with pure ethanol requires more than 450 pounds of corn — roughly enough calories to feed one person for a year.

Thanks in large part to the ethanol craze, the price of beef, poultry and pork in the United States rose more than three percent during the first five months of this year. In some parts of the country, hog farmers now find it cheaper to fatten their animals on trail mix, french fries and chocolate bars. And since America provides two-thirds of all global corn exports, the impact is being felt around the world. In Mexico, tortilla prices have jumped sixty percent, leading to food riots. In Europe, butter prices have spiked forty percent, and pork prices in China are up twenty percent. By 2025, according to Runge and Senauer, rising food prices caused by the demand for ethanol and other biofuels could cause as many as 600 million more people to go hungry worldwide.

Despite the serious drawbacks of ethanol, some technological visionaries believe that the fuel can be done right. "Corn ethanol is just a platform, the first step in a much larger transition we are undergoing from a hydrocarbon-based economy to a carbohydrate-based economy," says Vinod Khosla, a pioneering venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. Next-generation corn- ethanol plants, he argues, will be much more efficient and environmentally friendly. He points to a company called E3 BioFuels that just opened an ethanol plant in Mead, Nebraska. The facility runs largely on biogas made from cow manure, and feeds leftover grain back to the cows, making it a "closed-loop system" — one that requires very few fossil fuels to create ethanol.

Khosla is even higher on the prospects for cellulosic ethanol, a biofuel that can be made from almost any plant matter, including wood waste and perennial grasses like miscanthus and switchgrass. Like other high-tech ethanol evangelists, Khosla imagines a future in which such so-called "energy crops" are fed into giant refineries that use genetically engineered enzymes to break down the cellulose in plants and create fuel for a fraction of the cost of today's gasoline. Among other virtues, cellulosic ethanol would not cut into the global food supply (nobody eats miscanthus or switchgrass), and it could significantly cut global-warming pollution. Even more important, it could provide a gateway to a much larger biotech revolution, including synthetic microbes that could one day be engineered to gobble up carbon dioxide or other pollutants.

Unfortunately, no commercial-scale cellulosic ethanol plants exist today. In one venture backed by Khosla, a $225 million plant in central Georgia is currently being built to make ethanol out of wood chips. Mitch Mandich, a former Apple Computer executive who is now the CEO of the operation, calls it "the beginning of a real transformation in the way we think about energy in America."

Maybe. But oil-industry engineer Robert Rapier, who has spent years studying cellulosic ethanol, says that the difference between ethanol from corn and ethanol from cellulose is "like the difference between traveling to the moon and traveling to Mars." And even if the engineering hurdles can be overcome, there's still the problem of land use: According to Rapier, replacing fifty percent of our current gasoline consumption with cellulosic ethanol would consume thirteen percent of the land in the United States - about seven times the land currently utilized for corn production.

Increasing the production of cellulosic ethanol will also require solving huge logistical problems, including delivering vast quantities of feedstock to production plants. According to one plant manager in the Midwest, fueling an ethanol plant with switchgrass would require delivering a semi-truckload of the grass every six minutes, twenty-four hours a day. Finally, there is the challenge of wrestling the future away from Big Corn. "It's pretty clear to me that the corn guys will use all their lobbying muscle and political power to stall, thwart and sidetrack this revolution," says economist C. Ford Runge.

In the end, the ethanol boom is another manifestation of America's blind faith that technology will solve all our problems. Thirty years ago, nuclear power was the answer. Then it was hydrogen. Biofuels may work out better, especially if mandates are coupled with tough caps on greenhouse-gas emissions. Still, biofuels are, at best, a huge gamble. They may help cushion the fall when cheap oil vanishes, but if we rely on ethanol to save the day, we could soon find ourselves forced to make a choice between feeding our SUVs and feeding children in the Third World. And we all know how that decision will go.

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