The Patriot Post® · Earth Day, Ethanol and Keystone
Today is Earth Day, a day that envirofascists have used annually since 1970 to draw attention to their activist agenda. The celebration, which includes events in over 140 countries, has taken on larger significance in recent years as organizations more actively push their global warming fantasy on the American people. Never mind that in the last 17 years, the average temperature of the world hasn’t gone up, but let’s not get tripped up by data here. There’s an agenda to be driven.
The impact of environmentalists on the American economy has also taken on a larger role. For proof, you need look no further than the multi-billion-dollar ethanol industry. The so-called biofuels industry, which came into being as an alternative to traditional fossil fuels, has been mandated and heavily subsidized by taxpayers ostensibly in hopes that it would soon become a self-sustaining economic sector. Not only have biofuels never really cranked up the engine, but a recent study now claims that corn-based ethanol actually creates 7% more greenhouse gases than conventional gasoline. There’s a finger in your eye.
The $500,000 study, which came out Sunday in the Natural Climate Change journal, concludes that corn-based fuels won’t meet the renewable fuel standard mandated by law in 2007. The EPA’s analysis claims otherwise, and the agency immediately attacked the study as flawed because, according to spokeswoman Liz Purchia, it “does not provide useful information relevant to the life cycle greenhouse gas emissions from corn stover ethanol.”
The EPA has reduced the proposed amount of biofuels mandated for public use five times. The 2014 production target is now 17 million gallons; when the law was written the agency predicted 1.75 billion gallons. The inability of the fuel to reach commercial viability has not stopped politicians from continuing to push the issue if for no other reason than fat government checks to keep the boondoggle going.
In other energy news, money also appears to be motivating the latest decision to stall the Keystone XL pipeline. Late Friday afternoon before the Easter holiday, the State Department announced that it was indefinitely postponing a decision on whether to build the pipeline, citing a pending court case over land use issues. The pipeline is popular with the public, will create thousand of jobs, and make America less dependent on foreign oil, but all that pales in comparison to political considerations for the Obama administration. Even Terry O'Sullivan, general president of the Laborers International Union of America (LIUNA), called Obama’s delay “gutless” and a “low blow to the working men and women of our country.”
The State Department has found that the pipeline poses no significant environmental risk. But never mind that – it’s all about the campaign cash. Billionaire investor and rabid environmentalist Tom Steyer has offered to throw $100 million into key congressional races for Democrats this year – if Barack Obama stops the Keystone project from taking place. The Canadian oil that would be pumped through the Keystone pipeline will be extracted no matter what quid pro quo exists between the president and his leftist sponsors.
It’s interesting that there is no mention of Steyer when the news media reports on how money is corrupting politics. He spent $11 million on Democrat Terry McAuliffe’s run for Virginia governor in 2013, and now he has essentially paid to shelve the Keystone pipeline proposal in order to deindustrialize America. He is just further proof, like Al Gore before him, that the only green that these activists care about is cash.