Butterflies for Ted Cruz, Determined Foe of Ethanol Mandates

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A mock bumper sticker noting how Ted Cruz’s rejection of ethanol mandates could have lasting benefits for butterflies.Credit

No matter who prevails as the Republican presidential candidate and who wins the election next November, there may already be a big and enduring win out of this crazy race — for the environment, including ailing monarch butterflies. If butterflies had hands instead of wings, they’d be clapping for Senator Ted Cruz.

Cruz creditably withstood the perennial temptation — among Republicans and Democrats alike — to bow down to Big Corn and the federal mandate for ethanol that has been such a boon to Iowa corn farmers and bane if you care about food prices, greenhouse gas emissions, herbicide use or the loss of wild vegetation in the Midwest that is an important food source for monarchs and habitat for other wildlife.

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Senator Ted Cruz greeted supporters Monday night during his victory appearance at the fairgrounds in Des Moines.Credit Stephen Crowley/The New York Times

I won’t be voting for Cruz if he ends up the candidate, but I credited his stance on the Oregon wildlife refuge takeover and applaud his determination to stick to conservative principles on the harm from politically motivated subsidies.

There were, of course, many other issues in play in Iowa, including the interests of evangelical Christians. But it does at least seem plausible that the ethanol litmus test is broken for good. (Listen to the interaction between Cruz and an angry farmer to see how he overcame doubts, at least in that instance.)

As Coral Davenport reported in a piece that ran on Sunday, the power of the ethanol mandate is waning for a variety of reasons — some national, but others within Iowa’s boundaries:

Energy policy experts, advocates in the fight on poverty and even other farmers say a law that has been a boon for Iowa has been a boondoggle to the rest of the country. The ethanol mandate has driven up food costs while failing to deliver its promised environmental benefits. Rising domestic oil production and a global energy glut have all but nullified the pitch that ethanol would help wean the country off foreign oil.

Even here, as Iowa urbanizes and diversifies, ethanol may be losing its once-powerful hold, some political consultants say…. And now a powerful coalition including oil companies, environmentalists, grocery manufacturers, livestock farmers and humanitarian advocates is pushing Congress to weaken or repeal the mandate. As soon as this week, the Senate could vote on a measure to roll back the Renewable Fuel Standard, just days after the Iowa caucuses close and the issue largely goes to rest for another four years.

Does this mean all incentives on energy are bad? No.

In a wise Op-Ed article on Sunday, Margo Oge, a former senior Environmental Protection Agency official and the author of “Driving the Future: Combating Climate Change With Cleaner, Smarter Cars,” laid out an approach to fostering progress toward developing truly renewable biologically-based energy sources. Here’s an excerpt:

Ethanol thrives because of the volume-based approach of the mandate, which specifies that a growing percentage of various renewable fuels must be mixed into gasoline every year until 2022.

But that approach has stifled innovation and, if its track record to date is any indication, biofuels will not be a major player in meeting our 2050 targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from cars and trucks.

What we should be talking about is a performance-based approach to developing gasoline substitutes that will reduce emissions. [Read the rest]

Has the ethanol silly season come to an end for good?

We’ll find out in 2019, as the next flock of presidential hopefuls migrates to Iowa.

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