Your fuelish government...

I just got done reading this in my local alternative newsweekly:

News of the Weird:

Fueling Confusion

Your Government Knows Best:

A 2007 federal energy-independence law REQUIRED U.S. companies supplying motor fuel to blend in a certain cellulose-based ingredient STARTING in 2011---even though (as the Environmental Protection Agency well knows) the ingredient simply DOES NOT NOW EXIST. A New York Times reporter checked with the EPA in January and found the companies WILL STILL HAVE TO PAY THE MONETARY PENALTIES FOR NONCOMPLIANCE (and almost certainly the STIFFER penalties for 2012, SINCE THE INGREDIENT IS TWO OR THREE YEARS from development). "It belies logic", said a petrochemicals trade association executive.

Sorry for all the capitals/emphasis added.

I used to think the government was populated by nitwits and the oil companies were run by greedy bastids...I will now have to revise one of those opinions.

integraguy wrote: I used to think the government was populated by nitwits and the oil companies were run by greedy bastids...I will now have to revise one of those opinions.

Now you're realizing they're both greedy bastids?

Do you have a legitimate news source for this story? I like reading News of the Weird too, but it's not my main source for the truth.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/10/business/energy-environment/companies-face-fines-for-not-using-unavailable-biofuel.html?_r=1

And some government nitwit will claim that they should have put more funding into the technology, and are bein fined for the failure to do so. Hmmm, corn subsidies go away, will we be seeing equivalent biofuel subsidies soon?

On the oil topic: We see all the "Drill here, drill now. Reduce the cost of gas." bumper stickers and TV commercials. Did you know what the number one export in the U.S. was last year? Greedy Bastards dept: Oil! The oil companies export to countries where they can sell it for a higher price than here. There is no oil shortage in this country, just greedy execs.

mistanfo wrote: And some government nitwit will claim that they should have put more funding into the technology, and are bein fined for the failure to do so. Hmmm, corn subsidies go away, will we be seeing equivalent biofuel subsidies soon?

Or maybe someone from the government who isn't a nitwit. I suspect this is exactly what happened. Figure if they ignore the issue long enough it would go away- call the government's bluff as it were. Government said "nice try".

But who knows? I don't care enough to read it. If I'm supposed to feel sorry for the oil companies because they have to pay back some of the billions of dollars we give them in subsidies, then mission failed.

Argo1 wrote: On the oil topic: We see all the "Drill here, drill now. Reduce the cost of gas." bumper stickers and TV commercials. Did you know what the number one export in the U.S. was last year? Greedy Bastards dept: Oil! The oil companies export to countries where they can sell it for a higher price than here. There is no oil shortage in this country, just greedy execs.

all oil is sold on a worldwide commodity market.. to the highest bidder.. there are giant ships full of billions of barrels of oil that just cruise around the world's oceans until they are told that their oil has been sold, then they take it to whatever port the purchaser wants it unloaded at..

My point exactly. Oil independence can't be created by domestic drilling unless something forces the oil to stay here.

In reply to Argo1:

In some cases the oil is exported in crude form to be refined elsewhere due to the insane regulation of expanding existing or building new refineries in the US.

For similar government rectal-cranial inversions, see Nuclear Power Plant regulation (starting to change, thankfully).

In a weird way, I think it makes perfect sense.

$6.8 million is chump change. It represents a $50 fine for every million gallons of fuel produced.

Considering that fuel companies are on the front lines of the R&D work for any type of fuel advancement, what manner can the government use to encourage new development work that works better than establishing quotas and targets?

The obvious bottom line is that the cost of developing the technology far exceeds the cost of paying the fines. If it weren't true, there would be plenty of people standing in line to sell their product.

Raise the fines and the new technologies will pop out of thin air.

The oil companies are just milking the subject for the free media time they can get out of it, and a lot of folks fell for it.

Besides, the government needs the money.

On the one hand we complain that fuel companies are making money hand over fist, and on the other hand we complain that the government is making them spend some of that money on R&D.

Who's the nitwit?

Conquest351 wrote:

integraguy wrote: I used to think the government was populated by nitwits and the oil companies were run by greedy bastids...I will now have to revise one of those opinions.

Now you're realizing they're both greedy bastids?

AND nitwits

Do you really think the oil companies are paying those fines. Nope, we all do, every time we buy fuel. Everything any business has to pay to the government is passed right to the customer. So, who are the nitwits exactly?