1. "A Fine for Not Using a Biofuel That Doesnt Exist
2. WASHINGTON 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.
3. But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.
4. In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, ...
5. It belies logic, Charles T. Drevna, the president of the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, said of the 2011 quota. And raising the quota for 2012 when there is no production makes even less sense, he said.
6. Penalizing the fuel suppliers demonstrates what happens when the federal government really, really wants something that technology is not ready to provide.
7. [The law] requires the use of three alternative fuels: car and truck fuel made from cellulose, diesel fuel made from biomass and fuel made from biological materials but with a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases. Only the cellulosic fuel is commercially unavailable.
8. From a taxpayer/consumer standpoint, it doesnt seem to make a lot of sense that we would require blenders to pay fines or fees or whatever for stuff that literally isnt available, said Dennis V. McGinn, a retired vice admiral who serves on the American Council on Renewable Energy.
9. Mr. Drevna of the refiners association argued that in contrast to 2007, when Congress passed the law, all of a sudden were starting to find tremendous resources of our own, oil and natural gas, here in the United States, because of fracking, referring to a drilling process that involves injecting chemicals and water into underground rock to release gas and oil.
10. The underlying problem is that Congress legislated changes that laboratories and factories have not succeeded in producing. This is not for want of trying, and efforts continue."
Companies Face Fines for Not Using Unavailable Biofuel - NYTimes.com
2. WASHINGTON 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.
3. But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.
4. In 2012, the oil companies expect to pay even higher penalties for failing to blend in the fuel, ...
5. It belies logic, Charles T. Drevna, the president of the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association, said of the 2011 quota. And raising the quota for 2012 when there is no production makes even less sense, he said.
6. Penalizing the fuel suppliers demonstrates what happens when the federal government really, really wants something that technology is not ready to provide.
7. [The law] requires the use of three alternative fuels: car and truck fuel made from cellulose, diesel fuel made from biomass and fuel made from biological materials but with a 50 percent reduction in greenhouse gases. Only the cellulosic fuel is commercially unavailable.
8. From a taxpayer/consumer standpoint, it doesnt seem to make a lot of sense that we would require blenders to pay fines or fees or whatever for stuff that literally isnt available, said Dennis V. McGinn, a retired vice admiral who serves on the American Council on Renewable Energy.
9. Mr. Drevna of the refiners association argued that in contrast to 2007, when Congress passed the law, all of a sudden were starting to find tremendous resources of our own, oil and natural gas, here in the United States, because of fracking, referring to a drilling process that involves injecting chemicals and water into underground rock to release gas and oil.
10. The underlying problem is that Congress legislated changes that laboratories and factories have not succeeded in producing. This is not for want of trying, and efforts continue."
Companies Face Fines for Not Using Unavailable Biofuel - NYTimes.com
