ethanol subsidies

The ethanol industry is claiming victory with its stoppage of John McCain's (R-AZ) amendment to an agriculture appropriations bill that would've prevented the government from subsidizing E85 blender pumps. Senator McCain proposed the amendment on October 17, but quickly withdrew it on October 19 ...

Back in April, the Obama administration announced that it will offer incentives to gasoline stations that install E85 (a fuel consisting of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline) blender pumps. This proposal, according to Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, was put forth in an effort to get ...

In a remarkable vote earlier this week, the U.S. Senate voted to end ethanol subsidies which total about $6 billion each year. It's great progress to see our lawmakers finally bringing some pragmatic fiscal and environmental common sense to the rag tag elements of transport energy policy. While ...

Just days ago, we reported that the United States Senate rejected an amendment that would have put an end to the the $6 billion in tax breaks and subsidies for producers of corn-based ethanol. Now, we're here to convey the message that the Senate actually approved the amendment. Was our initial ...

Is all of the political fighting over ethanol subsidies kind of a moot point? Not entirely, but arguing over the role the biofuel will play in America in the future might be. This is the take from USDA chief economist Joe Glauber, who told Reuters point blank:

There is apparently no official Republican position on ethanol subsidies. The other day, the party's 2008 presidential nominee, John McCain, said that "Agriculture subsidies are outrageous today. Ethanol is a joke." Then, one of the people hoping to be the party's 2012 nominee, came out in strong ...

Hey, John McCain, tell us how you really feel. Speaking on CBS News' Face the Nation this past weekend, the Arizona Republican slipped some anti-agriculture subsidies into a statement about ways to reduce the federal budget. Specifically, he said: I think there may be efficiencies there. ... ...

Venture capitalist and biofuel supporter Vinod Khosla wrote, "The time has now come for us to stop subsidizing corn ethanol" arguing that "subsidies should be a short-term, and not a permanent measure, used for five to seven years after a technology first starts scaling in order to allow it to ...

It doesn't matter which party is in power in Washington (or state capitals, for that matter), companies that are spending billions of dollars to develop new products and technologies will spend at least a fraction of that amount to lobby politicians for policies that give them a leg up in the ...