Filed under: Ethanol, Legislation and Policy, United States



Green transportation issues were not at the top of this year's midterm elections in the US, but the sweeping Republican victories - and probably new Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell - could affect at least some aspects of how we get around without using as many resources as we used to.
Republican control of the Senate means that the likely new chair of the Environment and Public Works Committee will be James Inhofe, a big-time climate change denier. Inhofe wants to repeal the ethanol mandate, but that doesn't mean it'll happen. Renewable Fuels Association president Bob Dinneen told Agriculture.com that he doesn't think the new balance of power will change much on the ethanol front. "The mathematics of ethanol hasn't changed," he said. "They'll still need 60 votes on the floor of the Senate to repeal the Renewable Fuel Standard." There are pro-ethanol Republicans just as there are pro-ethanol Democrats. Read more here.

Then there's the ongoing ridesharing battles between companies like Lyft and Uber and the traditional taxi companies. As a report in The New York Times notes, there's been a general promotion of the upstarts by Republicans as, " a symbol of entrepreneurial innovation that could be strangled by misplaced government regulation." At the party's national convention in August, there was a petition that warned "government officials are trying to block Uber from providing services simply because it's cutting into the taxi unions' profits." RNC chair Reince Priebus also told The Hill that, "The issue is larger than Uber. How many companies, how many products, how many innovations have died prematurely because the government over-reached and interfered in the free market?"

Of course, when you get into the nitty-gritty, it's not that simple. The Times points to Philadelphia, where the Democratic mayor supports the ridesharing companies but the Republican-led Philadelphia Parking Authority opposes them. In reality, according to one analyst, ridesharing is not an overtly partisan issue, despite national platforms that might make you think otherwise. Read this for more.Republican control of Congress could affect US biofuel policy, Uber and Lyft originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Mon, 10 Nov 2014 19:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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