"Congress should act to protect Americans from the... phantom fuel fine," declared Jim Sensenbrenner, a representative from Wisconsin, in mid-February. He was railing against an idea Congress itself came up with, in 2007, but which has not worked out as planned: a requirement that refiners blend a certain amount of cel-lulosic ethanol (made from non-edible feedstock such as wood or grass, rather than corn) into the gasoline (petrol) they sell, or face a fine. The hitch is that hardly any cellulosic ethanol is available, making the fine rather unfair.
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