Last week, “an unelected group of people” over at the Environmental Protection Agency revised our national energy policy, approving a new gasoline blend with up to 15% ethanol, known as E15, which may be available in pumps this summer. Currently, most gasoline sold in the U.S. is E10, containing a maximum of 10% ethanol.
To review the backstory: the last time ethanol was in the news, it seems like its opponents, who come from both the environmental left and free-market right, had won a significant victory. Last summer, “a strong majority of a democratically elected Congress,” to use Obama’s words about ObamaCare, voted to discontinue subsidies for ethanol, effective 12/31/11.
The president termed the vote to end subsidies “ill-advised.” Funny how he rails against “giveaways for the oil companies” — which turn out to be tax write-offs afforded to most businesses — yet had no compunctions about paying out 45 cents per gallon to ethanol producers. Rather than an “all of the above” energy policy, Obama seems to be pursuing “nothing from below.”