Bear Creek Ledger

June 17, 2008

Splash and Dash

Congress won’t allow coastal drilling but hey that’s no problem for Florida since Cuba does allow coastal drilling. The only problem is it’s China and other countries who will be benefiting not the US.


IBD

Meanwhile, the US is subsidizing biofuels which helps to lower gas prices for Europe!

‘Splash and Dash’ Biofuel Scam Costs Americans Millions, Lawmakers Say

The scam — as Shadegg and others call it — is known as “splash and dash.” It stems from an existing $1 subsidy for every gallon of biodiesel fuel blended with regular diesel in the United States.

Here’s how it works:

Biodiesel is produced abroad using South American sugar cane or Asian palm oil and shipped to the United States, where it’s blended with just a “splash” of regular diesel.

A typical tanker-load of about 9 million gallons of biodiesel requires just 9,000 gallons of American diesel to make it qualify for the subsidy. But every gallon in the shipment garners a buck. The ship then makes a “dash” for Europe, where its fuel is sold below market rates.

That means each tanker-load that makes the dash nets importers about $9 million dollars in tax credits from the IRS. Lawmakers have estimated its cost to Americans at tens — or even hundreds — of millions each year.

snip….Shadegg wants to end “splash and dash” by eliminating the subsidy for any biodiesel exported from the United States, which he says harms energy independence. Shadegg is pushing his bill in the House, which has already passed measures to stop the scam.

Farmers in the Midwest, however, want a narrower solution that would continue to allow them to grow crops for use in biodiesel that could be exported to Europe.

And Feraci says “the ’splash and dash’ loophole is completely indefensible,” but his board is hoping to maintain the overall subsidy, which he says aids American farmers.

Just when are the Democrats going to start interrogating “Big Agriculture” for their egregious profits and ripping off of the American taxpayers?

Technorati Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

No Comments »

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI

Leave a comment