Unintended Consequences
The law of unintended consequences strikes again. Or possibly the law which states: "every govt. incentive program will be structured in such an arbitrary and idiotic way that it is open to wild abuse."
This time around, it is paper producers. Seems they have figured out that using a federal law meant to increase the incentive for refiners to blend biofuels they can milk some $8 billion or so from the govt. (and I am not blaming them for it - they are just playing the game by the way the rules are written).
Turns out that paper producers--who are not really an enviro-friendly bunch all in all--use "black liquor" a lignin rich sludge byproduct of paper production as a fuel for heating the wood chips and separating the fibers in order to make more paper. By blending in some biodiesel (which does nothing for the operation), they are able to get a $0.50/gal tax credit, just as if they were a refiner.
Impressive, and saddening due to how public funds are wasted and what a ridiculously stupid idea alternative fuels generally were in the first place.
This time around, it is paper producers. Seems they have figured out that using a federal law meant to increase the incentive for refiners to blend biofuels they can milk some $8 billion or so from the govt. (and I am not blaming them for it - they are just playing the game by the way the rules are written).
Turns out that paper producers--who are not really an enviro-friendly bunch all in all--use "black liquor" a lignin rich sludge byproduct of paper production as a fuel for heating the wood chips and separating the fibers in order to make more paper. By blending in some biodiesel (which does nothing for the operation), they are able to get a $0.50/gal tax credit, just as if they were a refiner.
Impressive, and saddening due to how public funds are wasted and what a ridiculously stupid idea alternative fuels generally were in the first place.
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