Pirate's Cove

Interestingly, as Senator Neophyte demonizes the American oil companies, he is linked himself to the American ethanol industry, which even the United Nations says is one the reasons for higher prices of food stuff around the world. Obama doesn’t like oil, because of the evil CO2 that it produces (funny how he never talks about he actual pollution from oil based engines), and, like the tobacco industry, it is easy to demonize. Apparently, he loves ethanol, which uses more energy than it produces (depending on which source you read. Some say less, some say a tiny bit more), and, being that plants produce methane, which is a much stronger greenhouse gas then CO2, the more plants, the more CO2

….And as befits a senator from Illinois, the country’s second largest corn-producing state, he delivered a ringing endorsement of ethanol as an alternative fuel.

Mr. Obama is running as a reformer who is seeking to reduce the influence of special interests. But like any other politician, he has powerful constituencies that help shape his views. And when it comes to domestic ethanol, almost all of which is made from corn, he also has advisers and prominent supporters with close ties to the industry at a time when energy policy is a point of sharp contrast between the parties and their presidential candidates.

The NY Times is soft peddling this story, but, one gets the feeling that they are not too happy with Obama’s apparent association with the ethanol companies, which leads to his pro-ethanol stance, which seems like, well, politics as usual.

Nowadays, when Mr. Obama travels in farm country, he is sometimes accompanied by his friend Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota. Mr. Daschle now serves on the boards of three ethanol companies and works at a Washington law firm where, according to his online job description, “he spends a substantial amount of time providing strategic and policy advice to clients in renewable energy.”

Wouldn’t that make Daschle a, you know, lobbyist?

Not long after arriving in the Senate, Mr. Obama himself briefly provoked a controversy by flying at subsidized rates on corporate airplanes, including twice on jets owned by Archer Daniels Midland, which is the nation’s largest ethanol producer and is based in his home state.

Politics as usual.

Jason Furman, the Obama campaign’s economic policy director, said Mr. Obama’s stance on ethanol was based on its merits. “That is what has always motivated him on this issue, and will continue to determine his policy going forward,” Mr. Furman said.

Yup, those great merits like taking more energy to produce then it gives back. Plus the methane. Higher food costs. Now, if we could shift to sugar based……

Last excerpt

Mr. McCain advocates eliminating the multibillion-dollar annual government subsidies that domestic ethanol has long enjoyed. As a free trade advocate, he also opposes the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff that the United States slaps on imports of ethanol made from sugar cane, which packs more of an energy punch than corn-based ethanol and is cheaper to produce.

Mr. Obama, in contrast, favors the subsidies, some of which end up in the hands of the same oil companies he says should be subjected to a windfall profits tax. In the name of helping the United States build “energy independence,” he also supports the tariff, which some economists say may well be illegal under the World Trade Organization’s rules but which his advisers say is not.

I’m not going to comment on the subsidies one way or another, that is the first I’ve heard, and I do not know enough about them, other then it seems to be typical government. But, interestingly, McCain is in favor of reducing or eliminating the tariffs on sugar based ethanol (too be honest, won’t make that much of a difference, as most of the countries that produce it have none to spare), while Obama, Mr. Hope, Change, a New Politician, a guy who is not an insider, has not been captured by the system, and wants to change the way Washington does business, is apparently in the pocket of Big Ethanol. Personally, if he is in Big Ethanols pocket, not big deal from a politician, but, this goes against everything the Obamissiah has been preaching.

The Times also points out that Surprise Surprise! Obama has not really explained his opposition to sugar based ethanol.

PS: Renewable Fuels: Obama has worked on numerous efforts in the Senate to increase access to and use of renewable fuels. Obama passed legislation with Senator Jim Talent (R-MO) to give gas stations a tax credit for installing E85 ethanol refueling pumps. The tax credit covers 30 percent of the costs of switching one or more traditional petroleum pumps to E85, which is an 85 percent ethanol/15 percent gasoline blend. Obama also sponsored an amendment that became law providing $40 million for commercialization of a combined flexible fuel vehicle/hybrid car within five years.