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01-05-2008, 02:12 AM
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#1 (permalink)
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Military Professional
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Join Date: 02-23-05
Location: Krblachistan
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US beer tax . . .
. . . the roundabout way. See the original blog post for all the links supporting the statements in the first paragraph.
Quote:
Coyote Blog: Now I'm Really Mad at Ethanol Subsidies
Now I'm Really Mad at Ethanol Subsidies
OK, I was mad at the waste of tax dollars for ethanol programs that do nothing for the environment or to reduce net fossil fuel consumption. I was mad that a technology that in no way reduces CO2 production but does introduce radical new land-use-related environmental problems could be sold as an environmental panacea, rather than the corporate welfare it truly is. I was mad we have decided it is more important to subsidize corn farmers than to continue to provide the world's poor with cheap food. And I was flabbergasted that Congress could call for production of more corn-based ethanol than is physically possible with our entire corn crop.
But I really am mad now that ethanol subsidies are making craft beers rarer and more expensive to make:
Quote:
A global shortage of hops, combined with a run-up in barley prices, is sending a chill through Arizona's craft-beer industry.
The hops shortage threatens to boost prices, cut into profits and close down brewpubs. It could change the taste and consistency of treasured local ales.
In Bisbee, "hop heads" already are weaning themselves from Electric Dave's India Pale Ale. Dave Harvan closed his 7-year-old Electric Brewing Co. in November, citing the scarcity and high cost of ingredients.
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So why aren't as many farmers growing hops and barley? Because the government is paying them ridiculous jack to grow corn so we can burn food into our cars:
Quote:
Papazian attributed the barley prices to ethanol subsidies that have raised the price of corn, the main ingredient in the alternative fuel. As a result, farmers have switched to barley for livestock feed, which has pushed up prices.
The hops situation is more complex. Years of overproduction and low prices led farmers to replace hops fields with more profitable crops. Add to that corn subsidies that have caused farmers to replace hops fields with corn, a drought in Australia that affected yields and heavy rains in Europe that ruined much of this year's crop.
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__________________
"So little pains do the vulgar take in the investigation of truth, accepting readily the first story that comes to hand." Thucydides 1.20.3
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01-05-2008, 14:32 PM
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#2 (permalink)
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Military Professional
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Join Date: 02-23-05
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Here's an excerpt from one of the links in the article.
Quote:
The Ethanol Scam: One of America's Biggest Political Boondoggles : Rolling Stone
This is not just hype -- it's dangerous, delusional ********. 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.
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.
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01-05-2008, 14:35 PM
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#3 (permalink)
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Military Professional
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Join Date: 02-23-05
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Here's another excerpt:
Quote:
On Thursday, just over a year after winning the majority, Democrats in the House of Representatives voted through an energy bill that represents a stark departure from the administration’s approach . . . It would set a renewable fuel standard aiming to generate 36 billion gallons of ethanol a year by 2022. (emphasis mine)
The Congress is demanding 36 billion gallons of ethanol. Presumably, this is all from domestic sources because Congress has refused to drop the enormous tariffs on ethanol imports. But the entire corn harvest in 2004 of 11.8 billion bushels would make only 30 billion gallons of ethanol. (emphasis mine) So Congress wants us to put ALL of our food supply into our cars? Maybe we can tear down the Amazon rain forest to grow more.
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Who's for ethanol? |
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01-05-2008, 16:21 PM
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#4 (permalink)
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Lord High Hullabalooster
Senior Contributor
Join Date: 11-23-04
Location: Columbia Heights, MN
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Not me.
Wasting money, energy, and fuel to create less-efficient fuel is stupid.
-dale
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01-05-2008, 17:35 PM
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#5 (permalink)
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Military Professional
Join Date: 09-15-06
Location: Penzance, Cornwall UK
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Nor me. The whole scheme is misbegotten.
__________________
Semper in excretum. Solum profunda variat.
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01-05-2008, 18:16 PM
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#6 (permalink)
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Burgomaster
Join Date: 08-02-03
Location: Minneapolis
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Not I. I've long known there was something fishy about it.
__________________
The Buck Stops Here
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01-05-2008, 18:21 PM
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#7 (permalink)
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Senior Contributor
Join Date: 01-27-06
Location: DPRK, Democratik People's Republik of Kalifornia
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I like my gasoline, or petrol for those people who drive on the wrong side of the road. 
Some in Mexico have already started to complain about the increase in corn price. Corn is the stable of Mexican diet.
__________________
"Only Nixon can go to China." -- Old Vulcan proverb.
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01-05-2008, 18:32 PM
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#8 (permalink)
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Moderator
Join Date: 08-03-03
Location: Montreal, Canada
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Electric is the way to go I think. Hydrogen is inefficient and ethanol is just stupid.
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01-05-2008, 18:37 PM
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#9 (permalink)
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Military Professional
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Join Date: 02-23-05
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gunnut
Some in Mexico have already started to complain about the increase in corn price. Corn is the stable of Mexican diet.
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Dead on. |
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01-05-2008, 18:38 PM
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#10 (permalink)
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Military Professional
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Join Date: 02-23-05
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ironduke
Not I. I've long known there was something fishy about it.
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Try living near an ethanol plant. Not exactly fish, but it still stinks! |
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01-05-2008, 20:04 PM
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#11 (permalink)
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Senior Contributor
Join Date: 02-08-07
Location: Kassel
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I think I've read that it is useful in small amounts becuase it increases the effency a bit (if mixed with normal fuel), but completly useles as a replacement (for reason already said above).
__________________
uh I might be wrong
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