Over bølgen blå med grøn benzin

Fra National Review, endnu en beretning om et regeringstiltag, som skulle hjælpe miljøet, men som blot bruger en masse penge på at gøre det værre. En ordning fra 2004, sat i værk af Chuck Grassley, en republikansk senator, giver en dollar i tilskud for hver gallon biodiesel, der blandes med regulær diesel i USA.

It works like this: A foreign tanker carrying 9 million gallons of biodiesel from Brazil or Malaysia sails to an American port. While it waits, 9,000 gallons of American diesel is added — that’s right, a .1 percent blend - so as to earn the blender a $9 million tax credit. The tanker heads to Europe, where diesel cars are far more common and biodiesel is further subsidized.

In some cases, tankers have reportedly made round trips from Europe to the U.S. simply to collect the subsidy. Thus we “import” and “export” the same fuel from and to the same country.