00:00:00
Speaker 1: Why we burn our food in our cars. It's been going on for a couple of decades now, at least, where we have this federal policy to make ethanol out of corn instead of making food out of corn, whether it's food for us or food for animals or something. Instead, we burn it in our cars. And I've long thought this was a stupid idea. And it's a perfect example of public choice theory of politics.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Why do we burn our food in our cars?
00:00:28
Speaker 1: Because a few Midwestern farm state senators want this in order to generate more revenue for the corn farmers in their state. And so they tell all the other senators, hey, I won't vote for your thing unless you vote to burn our food. There's a lot of conversation going on right now about fuel prices, about the environment and more. And maybe this question of ethanol plays into it all. Joining us to talk about it, Jared Whitley, a freelance writer who wrote a piece about this recently for townhall.com. Jared, thanks so much for joining us on KOA. And I'm curious, this has been going on a long time. What is bringing this to the forefront of your attention to write about it right now?
00:01:14
Speaker 3: Good morning. Thank you for having me on.
00:01:15
Speaker 4: So the reason that we're talking about it now is because gas prices are super high. And because the Iranians, or better said, the corrupt government in Iran understands that if they're able to keep pressure on gas prices in the United States, that that will have a negative impact on the midterms for Republicans.
00:01:38
Speaker 3: And they understand that.
00:01:41
Speaker 4: The world is safer for evil when Democrats are in charge, to put it bluntly. So that's the reason why gas prices are such a big issue. And this kind of comes full circle to why this started entirely 20 years ago, because of the way the Iraq War impacted gas prices. So that's why we started, as you say, foolishly putting corn in gasoline prices. And so now we're looking at undoing that misguided notion from 2005.
00:02:16
Speaker 5: So explain maybe in the simplest of terms what the E15 gasoline is and why isn't it sold year round currently? Because in your article, you talk a little bit about why some lawmakers are pushing for that and you do not support that.
00:02:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, so there are mandates created in the 2005 energy policy to put a certain amount of ethanol in gasoline. So the E15 is a fuel blend of up to 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline. It's generally not sold during the summer because of requirements under the Clean Air Act. Now, what we're trying to do is not only not allow– there are some people who want year-round sale of it, right? And we're all trying to– or not we. Those who are like-minded individuals on the right side here not only don't want there to be year-round sale of E15, we want to get rid of these so-called renewable fuel standards entirely.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Is there any– possibility of that in a political sense? I mean, as long as Chuck Grassley, who is like 217 years old now, as long as he's in the Senate, renewable mandates aren't going to go anywhere, right?
00:03:37
Speaker 4: So I don't know if this issue is something you can just put on Chuck Schumer.
00:03:45
Speaker 3: I think the broader issue is.
00:03:48
Speaker 2: The foolishness of the Iowa caucuses.
00:03:53
Speaker 4: The fact that for some reason in our country we decided the most important thing in the world is to let people in Iowa decide who the president is going to be, or at least have the most weight in deciding who the president is going to be.
00:04:08
Speaker 3: I think that's why we have this.
00:04:10
Speaker 4: Because everybody in Washington who wants to be president, which is 95% of the members of Congress, and only 5% are the ones who already run and who failed, They want to be able to go to Iowa and say, I did my part for Iowa corn farmers. So this is just yet another way for political expedience to support.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: A bad policy.
00:04:39
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's do one more thing on this. So.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, some.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: Of the purported excuse for this stuff is that it lowers the.
00:04:50
Speaker 2: Cost of gasoline. What does the data show.
00:04:53
Speaker 1: About how adding ethanol to gasoline actually impacts the cost of gasoline?
00:04:58
Speaker 4: Okay, so there was a study recently, and this is by the Energy Policy Research Foundation, which found that these mandates add effectively a 44-cent percentage tax on every gallon that's used. So if we can get rid of these, and ostensibly the idea was 20 years ago, we'd go through this process which may be more expensive, but it is better for the environment and it reduces our dependency on foreign oils.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: So if we could get rid of that, it would lower gas prices.
00:05:37
Speaker 4: Now, in terms of the environmental impact, We know after 20 years of this, the renewable fuel standard is worse for the environment than normal gasoline, right? If that's the argument, that is completely the opposite. Because people frequently think, well, pollution is what comes out of the back of my car.
00:05:57
Speaker 3: No, there are points in the supply.
00:05:58
Speaker 4: Chain for something like this where gasoline is, where negative environmental impacts can happen that you don't see coming out of.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: The back of your car.
00:06:07
Speaker 4: And people can look this up. This is worse for the environment than normal gasoline. If that's the argument, then we need to get rid of it. Moreover, 20 years ago, we were not as fuel independent as we are now, thanks to President Trump's policies.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: So we don't need this at all.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: Okay, just last very quick follow-up then on what you said. Are you saying that ethanol is worse for the environment? than gasoline because of the process for producing ethanol being environmentally challenging rather than it's increasing the dirtiness or whatever you want to call it of what comes out of the tailpipe?
00:06:48
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. Exactly. It's an interesting argument.
00:06:51
Speaker 3: It's worse for the land, right? It's worse.
00:06:54
Speaker 4: It's worse because of fertilizer emissions, and it's worse because of water and soil degradation, right? And you don't see that coming out of the back of your car, but it's definitely... which is definitely hurting the land where this corn is being grown. So the long term, it's worse for Iowa corn farmers than it actually is in the short term.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: So we need to get rid of it.
00:07:19
Speaker 2: Jared Whitley's piece for Town Hall.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: The White House is showing that lower gas prices can fuel our midterm wins.
00:07:25
Speaker 2: Thanks for your time, Jared. Appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Why we burn our food in our cars. It's been going on for a couple of decades now, at least, where we have this federal policy to make ethanol out of corn instead of making food out of corn, whether it's food for us or food for animals or something. Instead, we burn it in our cars. And I've long thought this was a stupid idea. And it's a perfect example of public choice theory of politics.
00:00:26
Speaker 2: Why do we burn our food in our cars?
00:00:28
Speaker 1: Because a few Midwestern farm state senators want this in order to generate more revenue for the corn farmers in their state. And so they tell all the other senators, hey, I won't vote for your thing unless you vote to burn our food. There's a lot of conversation going on right now about fuel prices, about the environment and more. And maybe this question of ethanol plays into it all. Joining us to talk about it, Jared Whitley, a freelance writer who wrote a piece about this recently for townhall.com. Jared, thanks so much for joining us on KOA. And I'm curious, this has been going on a long time. What is bringing this to the forefront of your attention to write about it right now?
00:01:14
Speaker 3: Good morning. Thank you for having me on.
00:01:15
Speaker 4: So the reason that we're talking about it now is because gas prices are super high. And because the Iranians, or better said, the corrupt government in Iran understands that if they're able to keep pressure on gas prices in the United States, that that will have a negative impact on the midterms for Republicans.
00:01:38
Speaker 3: And they understand that.
00:01:41
Speaker 4: The world is safer for evil when Democrats are in charge, to put it bluntly. So that's the reason why gas prices are such a big issue. And this kind of comes full circle to why this started entirely 20 years ago, because of the way the Iraq War impacted gas prices. So that's why we started, as you say, foolishly putting corn in gasoline prices. And so now we're looking at undoing that misguided notion from 2005.
00:02:16
Speaker 5: So explain maybe in the simplest of terms what the E15 gasoline is and why isn't it sold year round currently? Because in your article, you talk a little bit about why some lawmakers are pushing for that and you do not support that.
00:02:31
Speaker 4: Yeah, so there are mandates created in the 2005 energy policy to put a certain amount of ethanol in gasoline. So the E15 is a fuel blend of up to 15% ethanol and 85% gasoline. It's generally not sold during the summer because of requirements under the Clean Air Act. Now, what we're trying to do is not only not allow– there are some people who want year-round sale of it, right? And we're all trying to– or not we. Those who are like-minded individuals on the right side here not only don't want there to be year-round sale of E15, we want to get rid of these so-called renewable fuel standards entirely.
00:03:23
Speaker 1: Is there any– possibility of that in a political sense? I mean, as long as Chuck Grassley, who is like 217 years old now, as long as he's in the Senate, renewable mandates aren't going to go anywhere, right?
00:03:37
Speaker 4: So I don't know if this issue is something you can just put on Chuck Schumer.
00:03:45
Speaker 3: I think the broader issue is.
00:03:48
Speaker 2: The foolishness of the Iowa caucuses.
00:03:53
Speaker 4: The fact that for some reason in our country we decided the most important thing in the world is to let people in Iowa decide who the president is going to be, or at least have the most weight in deciding who the president is going to be.
00:04:08
Speaker 3: I think that's why we have this.
00:04:10
Speaker 4: Because everybody in Washington who wants to be president, which is 95% of the members of Congress, and only 5% are the ones who already run and who failed, They want to be able to go to Iowa and say, I did my part for Iowa corn farmers. So this is just yet another way for political expedience to support.
00:04:36
Speaker 3: A bad policy.
00:04:39
Speaker 1: Okay, so let's do one more thing on this. So.
00:04:44
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, some.
00:04:46
Speaker 1: Of the purported excuse for this stuff is that it lowers the.
00:04:50
Speaker 2: Cost of gasoline. What does the data show.
00:04:53
Speaker 1: About how adding ethanol to gasoline actually impacts the cost of gasoline?
00:04:58
Speaker 4: Okay, so there was a study recently, and this is by the Energy Policy Research Foundation, which found that these mandates add effectively a 44-cent percentage tax on every gallon that's used. So if we can get rid of these, and ostensibly the idea was 20 years ago, we'd go through this process which may be more expensive, but it is better for the environment and it reduces our dependency on foreign oils.
00:05:34
Speaker 3: So if we could get rid of that, it would lower gas prices.
00:05:37
Speaker 4: Now, in terms of the environmental impact, We know after 20 years of this, the renewable fuel standard is worse for the environment than normal gasoline, right? If that's the argument, that is completely the opposite. Because people frequently think, well, pollution is what comes out of the back of my car.
00:05:57
Speaker 3: No, there are points in the supply.
00:05:58
Speaker 4: Chain for something like this where gasoline is, where negative environmental impacts can happen that you don't see coming out of.
00:06:06
Speaker 3: The back of your car.
00:06:07
Speaker 4: And people can look this up. This is worse for the environment than normal gasoline. If that's the argument, then we need to get rid of it. Moreover, 20 years ago, we were not as fuel independent as we are now, thanks to President Trump's policies.
00:06:23
Speaker 3: So we don't need this at all.
00:06:26
Speaker 1: Okay, just last very quick follow-up then on what you said. Are you saying that ethanol is worse for the environment? than gasoline because of the process for producing ethanol being environmentally challenging rather than it's increasing the dirtiness or whatever you want to call it of what comes out of the tailpipe?
00:06:48
Speaker 2: Yes, exactly. Exactly. It's an interesting argument.
00:06:51
Speaker 3: It's worse for the land, right? It's worse.
00:06:54
Speaker 4: It's worse because of fertilizer emissions, and it's worse because of water and soil degradation, right? And you don't see that coming out of the back of your car, but it's definitely... which is definitely hurting the land where this corn is being grown. So the long term, it's worse for Iowa corn farmers than it actually is in the short term.
00:07:18
Speaker 3: So we need to get rid of it.
00:07:19
Speaker 2: Jared Whitley's piece for Town Hall.
00:07:20
Speaker 1: The White House is showing that lower gas prices can fuel our midterm wins.
00:07:25
Speaker 2: Thanks for your time, Jared. Appreciate it.
