Hulshof defends ethanol mandate; contends Steelman is aligned with Chavez
U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof, one of two Republicans running for governor, sent out an e-release this morning challenging rival “Sarah Steelman’s newfound commitment to repeal the state’s renewable fuel directive…”
Hulshof’s campaign contended that Steelman’s call to eliminate Missouri’s ethanol mandate could hike gas prices at a time when Missouri’s are the cheapest in the nation. (Many experts tie Missouri’s low price, in part, to our lower gas taxes.)
Said Hulshof’s campaign in a release: “An array of independent analyses debunk the proposals contained in The Steelman Plan, which could result in higher gas prices, job losses, and an enhanced dependence on foreign oil.
“To wit: - A recent analysis from Merrill Lynch concluded that oil prices would be about 15% higher, if it weren’t for biofuels like ethanol and biodiesel. (Multiple press accounts)
“- A U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Energy analysis found that without ethanol, gas would be higher by 35 cents per gallon. (USDA & DoE letter to Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman, June 11, 2008)
“- An Iowa State University study found that ethanol has lowered gas prices by 30 to 40 cents per gallon. (Omaha World-Herald, editorial, May 11, 2008)
“- A Missouri-based A.G. Edwards analyst asserted: “Ethanol blending could help ease U.S. refining bottlenecks and that could be ultimately reflected in lower prices at the pump.” (Reuters, February 14, 2008)
“- The International Energy Agency (IEA) states that biofuels make up about 50 percent of the extra fuel coming to the market from sources outside the OPEC oil cartel. William Ramsey, deputy executive director of the IEA, said: “If we didn’t have those barrels, I am not sure where we would be getting those half a million barrels.” (The Financial Times, April 26, 2008)
“- Excerpt from a recent letter to the editor penned by American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman: “The production of 6.5 billion gallons of ethanol in 2007 displaced the need for 228 million barrels of oil. That is equivalent to nearly half of the oil imported from Venezuela in 2007.” (American Farm Bureau Federation president Bob Stallman, letter to the editor of The New York Times, May 18, 2008)
“- Last week, Venezuela dictator Hugo Chavez, who seeks to create a South American version of OPEC, condemned the United States for its “crazy” initiatives to produce ethanol. (AP, July 1, 2008)
“Until last week, Steelman appeared to recognize the benefits of biofuels and the positive impact they have had on the state’s agriculture economy and the ongoing effort to wean our dependence on foreign oil. Now, in a dramatic about face, she’s proposing the elimination of Missouri’s ethanol mandate.
“ ‘The promotion of biofuels, including Missouri’s ethanol mandate, is clearly working,’ said Scott Baker, communications director for Hulshof for Governor. ‘If not for ethanol, Missourians would be facing significantly higher prices at the pump, and we would have to import millions of additional barrels of oil from dictators like Hugo Chavez. Steelman’s plan is dangerous for America and extremely harmful to Missouri.”
Gosh. Steelman is allegned with a socialist dictator because she wants to end giveaways to huge corn producers. I guess Hulshof would claim that 22 Republican Senators, governors, and Senator McCain himself are closet socialists alligned with Chavez since all these folks also oppose the mandate in its present form. Hulshof should step up, be courageous and publicly refuse to support Senator McCain. Anybody think that will happen. If so please contact me. George Strait and I have some ocean front property in Arizona for sale.
Hulshof and his karl Rovian clones have sunk lower than whale poop on this one!
Perhaps Steelman could say Hulshof is aligned with Osama bin Laden and the Taliban since he supported the US pullout from Afghanistan and our getting into Iraq before the real bad guys that attacked us on 9/11 were caught or killed?
And since then, the Taliban and OSB have used their safe haven in Afghanistan to flood the US, and MISSOURI with heroin!
http://dangerousintersection.org/2006/08/13/afghanistan-democracy-is-drowning-in-illegal-drugs/
How about it, Kenny? Who ya’ for? US or the drug dealing terrorists?
The US is producing ethanol now at a rate of 8.3 billion gallons per year. A bushel of corn (along with the necessary natural gas, etc.) makes 2.8 gallons. 8.3 billion divided by 2.8 is close to 3 billion. 3 billion bushels of corn. Out of 10.5 billion bushels of corn harvested. So, about 30% of corn goes to ethanol. How can anyone think that doesn’t have an impact on prices? Subsidies for blending are 51 cents per gallon. So our 8.3 billion gallons are generating over $4 billion for SOMEODY. Maybe to Grassley and Iowa corporate farmers, which is why they keep trying to misdirect attention to random things like minor “droughts” half-a-planet away.
Would Hulshof have any reason to perpetuate this fleecing?
Here’s your answer:
“But as a the owner of a farm, Hulshof also has a personal stake in the amount of subsidies approved in the annual Farm Bill. The Environmental Working Group’s (EWG) Farm Subsidy Database reported the subsidies that Hulshof personally received amounted to $48,233 between the 2003 and 2005 fiscal years. A total of 64 percent of Hulshof’s subsidies during the period were corn-related.”
“US Congressman Kenny Hulshof received nearly $50,000 in federal farm subsidies in recent years, more than the average farmer in his congressional district and in the state of Missouri.”
As the mandated demand for corn causes a shortage, Kenny makes more money from his corn crop.
Iowa’a main crop is corn. (Of course they like to make more money) The USDA and the USDE need to sell the bag of goods to the uninformed citizens. Merryl Lynch and AG Edwards are selling to investors (not consumers).
Our own Show-Me Institute performed an independent analysis.
http://www.showmeinstitute.org/publication/id.133/pub_detail.asp
“Missouri is one of only three states that require a 10-percent minimum ethanol blend (E-10) for retail gasoline sold within the state. The Missouri Corn Merchandising Council (MCMC) recently released a study purporting to demonstrate the positive economic benefits of the state’s ethanol mandate for Missouri consumers. The study claimed that Missourians will save more than $285 million through ethanol-induced fuel cost reductions in 2008 and nearly $2 billion in present value during the following decade. The MCMC study ignores important effects of the E-10 mandate, however, most notably the documented decrease in fuel efficiency of E-10 blended fuel and the taxpayer cost of ethanol subsidies. We find that accounting for these costs significantly impacts the MCMC savings projections and would result in a net loss to Missouri consumers of almost $1 billion during the next decade. If one were to consider the additional impact of the E-10 mandate on higher food prices and CO2 gas emissions, these costs would be even higher.”
What would you expect from a lawyer that is also a corn producer. It would be interesting to know if Hulsof gets any funding from ADM, to boot. Ethanol creates more problems than it solves. It’s time for the ethanol mandate to go. Do we need a governor that has a vested interest in continuing the ethanol mandate?
Being pro-ethanol in the midwest is so….brave….
Hulshof didn’t want Steelman to be able to say she was the only one making intellectually dishonest, negative attacks and getting away from it.
JO, PLEASE FIX THE TYPO IN THE HEADLINE! AAAARRRRHHHH!
I can not beleve that some people are siding with Steelman. The comments about her being “HOT”…have you seen her in person?????Those touch up photos do amazing things for aperson her age. If youare voting for looks, youmust not care about Missouri. In fact, Kenny Hulshof if a nice looking young man…with no dyes involved. Steelman should research her speeches before she speaks…She is making up facts as she goes along.
What I don’t understand is, if ethanol really makes gasoline 35 cents a gallon cheaper, why would we need a mandate?
aside from the subsidies, and smoke and mirror price reductions, this opens the door for country wide GM corn, which has to be safer to burn, than to eat.