This past week was the first week I worked from home for the entire week. I’ll be heading into work first thing Monday morning as I have quite a bit of lab work waiting for me, though it’s unlikely I’ll have to put in a full week at the lab as I doubt there’s a week’s worth of lab working waiting for me. It is what it is.
I did notice that there was little traffic on the road Saturday morning and even less this morning. It’s probably the least amount of traffic I’ve seen since this whole thing started. What made it worse is that this is the first Easter Sunday the WP Clan has not been together in decades.
********************
Is it time to scrap the Renewable Fuel Standard?
I’d say it’s well past time. It’s original reason for being no longer exists – reducing our dependence on foreign oil. Considering we have more oil than we know what to do with, I’d say our dependence of foreign oil (specifically from the Middle East) is long over. Our present situation is a perfect time to end the RFS.
...one of the hardest hit sectors in the U.S. is the energy sector as it experiences the double blows of the Chinese coronavirus and the flooding of the oil market by Russia and Saudi Arabia, a move that has driven oil prices down while those nations fight for market share with the United States. So while demand is down, prices are also down.What’s even more paradoxical it isn’t the envirowackos demanding to keep the RFS, but the rent-seeking ethanol producers. For them the RFS is a guaranteed market even if they don’t sell ethanol to the refiners because if the refiners don’t buy enough ethanol as mandated they have to purchase the equivalent of “indulgences”, meaning they have to pay the government for the aforementioned RINs. So whether they use the ethanol or not, the refiners still have to pay for it. Some of the money collected from RINs goes to subsidize the ethanol producers.
To add to this problematic situation, small and large U.S. refineries are getting punished under an unrealistic Renewable Fuel Standard mandate. So in the middle of an economic downturn, as our energy sector is under tremendous stress, we are continuing the madness of unnecessary regulations on a key aspect of our economy (one that should also be considered a national security issue). These RFS mandates imposed on this core industry in America impose a heavy cost of RFS compliance credits (RINs) that is then draining cash from American-owned businesses at a time when draining cash can, and actually may, lead to bankruptcy.
Large ethanol producers like Archer Daniels Midland aren’t going to willingly give up billions in dollars of guaranteed income, so they and the other rent-seekers will do everything in their power to retain the RFS.
********************
Some people have been complaining about the townsfolk in the rural towns where they own second homes not exactly welcoming them when they decide to sit out the Covid-19 pandemic in that second home. The people do indeed own their homes and pay taxes on them, so making it difficult for them to occupy a home they own certainly is skirting the law.
On the other hand, the townsfolk in that rural town don’t like the idea of folks “from away” bringing the very thing they are supposedly fleeing with them and sickening townsfolk.
Both concerns are valid. What to do?
If the folks from away will self-quarantine for a specified period of time, then it may not be as much of an issue. If they won’t, then they are showing they really don’t care about the town in which their second home is located and maybe they deserve any abuse they receive. They are showing the townsfolk that they aren’t good neighbors.
Make sure to read the comments of the linked post above.
********************
Oh, yeah, I’m liking this!
The ATF has authorized gun shops to provide curbside service.
Now I don’t even have to get out of my truck to buy ammo!
Who says there are no upsides to the coronavirus pandemic?
********************
I find it interesting that the very people who have been so adamant about ever more stringent gun control laws are now upset that they have come under the control of those very same laws.
It appears more than a few of them bought into the fallacy promoted by TV ‘reports’ and anti-gun propaganda that buying a gun was as easy as buying a loaf of bread at their local convenience store. However, reality slapped them in the face and many were angry that they couldn’t buy a gun to protect themselves when they ‘needed’ to.
Somehow I doubt that many of them will remember their inconvenience going forward and will support more of the same type of laws that frustrated them...until the next time.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
********************
Like many others, Easter Services at our church was not held inside. Those wishing to attend in person did so in the church parking lot, staying in their cars, with our pastor outside, his sermon carried on FM radio. The rest of us watched the livestream. Not our usual church service, but under the circumstances, it served.
********************
And that’s the news from Lake Winnipesaukee, where boats are already being seen out on the water, summer homes have been opened early, and one of our local ice cream shops have already opened.