Republican Platform Calls For End To Ethanol Mandates

Part of the formal work accomplished at the Republican National Convention last week was the formation of the party platform. The platform, which spells out what the party stands for and hopes to accomplish, included a call for the ending of ethanol mandates.

The U.S. government should end mandates for ethanol and let the free market work.

Being a republican myself, adopting this measure as part of the party platform is very disappointing to me. There is no such thing as a free market when it comes to our existing fuel infrastructure. Oil companies often limit independent store owners from purchasing fuel from any other sources through supplier contracts. So unless oil companies are forced to blend ethanol into the fuel supply there will be very few outlets available to sell it. For the free market to work consumers have to have a choice and I don't think that the oil industry is voluntarily going to give it to us.