The US Environmental Protection Agency will drop renewable fuel quotas at a press conference scheduled shortly.
Meanwhile, casting himself as some kind of environmental warrior, Obama has held up the Keystone XL pipeline for six years and lied about where the oil from the pipeline will go.
“Understand what this project is: It is providing the ability of Canada to pump their oil, send it through our land, down to the Gulf, where it will be sold everywhere else. It doesn’t have an impact on US gas prices,” said Obama, who is traveling in Asia.
That’s a gross misunderstanding. First, it’s illegal to export US crude. Second, the Keystone XL oil will be mixed with US oil and if one drop is mixed in, none of it can be exported. Third, if gasoline is later exported, US refineries still benefit. Fourth, adding the marginal Canadian crude to the US market will certainly lower US gasoline prices now and in the future. Fifth, estimates are that — at maximum — 10% of the gasoline created from Keystone XL oil will be exported.
While he’s been diddling with that, the EPA failed to set renewable blend targets to gasoline in 2014 and with only 6 weeks left in the year, they’re dropping it.
Obama – the hope is gone