Fueled by ideology
November 10, 2011
The recent story that ethanol blends in gasoline are ruining marine engines is not unexpected.
But the disclosure is useful in what it says about energy policies driven by ideology at both the national and state levels.
It would be hard to find a remark more telling than that of Milwaukee-based ethanol lobbyist Josh Morby, saying “We need lawmakers with a broader vision, and a policy discussion that goes beyond engine performance.” In other words, do it my way and don’t bother asking if it works.
Wisconsin is a manufacturing state. It is a leader in small engine manufacturing and has been called the machine shop of the world. Think Wisconsin small engine manufacturing and the names Mercury Marine, Briggs and Stratton, Tecumseh, Waukesha Engine, Kohler, and Harley Davidson come up. To “go beyond engine performance” as Mr. Morby blandly advises would be to relegate Wisconsin manufacturers and workers to idleness.
It gets worse. Today federal environmental policy is being used to set our energy policy. California’s economic stagnation is coming to the rest of the country, thanks to Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and their pursuit of new air and water regulations that are designed to increase energy costs and make coal-powered energy prohibitively expensive. The fact that liberals lost the battle to impose a global cap and trade agenda on us doesn’t matter: the EPA is now using traditional air and water quality rules to make energy expensive.
This will fulfill President Obama’s campaign pledge, to “make electricity rates necessarily skyrocket.”
About Wisconsin Club for Growth
