It should be noted that cellulosic biofuel does not exist.
Even the New Yorks Times has trouble squaring the rationale.
When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.
But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.
In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, which is made from wood chips or the inedible parts of plants like corncobs. Refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons into gasoline and diesel in 2011 and face a quota of 8.65 million gallons this year.
Penalizing the fuel suppliers demonstrates what happens when the federal government really, really wants something that technology is not ready to provide. In fact, while it may seem harsh that the Environmental Protection Agency is penalizing them for failing to do the impossible, the agency is being lenient by the standards of the law, the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act.I didn't say that; the NY Times said that.
The EPA has lost all its marbles and Americans will lose even more if the current administration is in a position to strengthen the EPA next year.
I can't make this stuff up. Fined for not adding a substance that does not exist. But yet, the EPA spokesman can rationalize it.
