Friday, February 10, 2012

EDITORIAL: Clean green fraud

In 2007, President George W. Bush signed a law declaring 36 billion gallons of ethanol would be used in gasoline by the year 2022. Though the move purportedly would help the environment, it’s no secret that the corn fuel mandate has more to do with politicians seeking Midwestern votes. There wasn’t a lot of thought put into the consequences of this unrealistic and pointless command handed down from above. As a result, each fuel refiner and importer has to meet a quota of “renewable” fuel that must be blended into proper petroleum products. For 2012, EPA decided the total amount needs to add up to 15.2 billion gallons. Companies that can’t meet the target on their own can purchase credits from renewable fuel producers. These credits are available on the EPA Moderated Transaction System, a trading scheme that lets companies that claim an abundance of “green” fuel to rake in the cash. It’s basically a government-run equivalent of the Chicago Climate Exchange that would have sold “carbon credits” had Congress enacted cap-and-trade legislation. Beginning in 2009, the Maryland-based firm Clean Green Fuel sold credits representing 21 million gallons of biodiesel on the EPA trading system. This company was a model of political correctness, claiming it dispatched employees to collect waste vegetable oil from 2,700 nearby restaurants so that it could be converted into fuel. According to EPA, however, Clean Green had no facilities to collect or convert anything. Court documents assert that Clean Green’s owner pocketed $9.1 million in cash, which he then used to collect quite a carbon footprint from more than two-dozen luxury and sports cars, including several Ferraris, a Lamborghini and a Bentley purchased with a check for $377,210. Court documents also show the owner’s wife enjoyed $81,950 worth of diamond jewelry...more

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