Thou Shalt Use That Which Does Not Exist

From the annals of absurdity comes this latest example of government regulatory incoherence: Penalties for Not Using a Resource that Doesn't Exist Yet. Confused? So are a lot of people (emphasis mine):

When the companies that supply motor fuel close the books on 2011, they will pay about $6.8 million in penalties to the Treasury because they failed to mix a special type of biofuel into their gasoline and diesel as required by law.

But there was none to be had. Outside a handful of laboratories and workshops, the ingredient, cellulosic biofuel, does not exist.

The crux of the story is that the E.P.A. in its wisdom decided that in the interest of combating climate change, fuel companies are required to blend in a certain type of biofuel to the gasoline and diesel supply. There is only one teeny little problem. The technology to produce this particular biofuel does not exist. Suppliers that fail to meet the 2011 quota for the mythical biofuel blend are subject to significant fines, to be paid in full to the government. The quotas for 2012 are even higher. These suppliers face the choice of just paying the fines or going to court to challenge the fines (incurring even further cost). The E.P.A., of course, continues to believe these quotas are attainable - the fact that the mythical blend cannot be produced (although some are trying) appears to be of little relevance to the bureaucrats who seem to operate in a fantasy world of "so let it be written, so let it be done." Technology simply doesn't subscribe well to such a dictum. But they will keep trying, and I'm sure those fines will be put to good use as government loans to green companies charged with producing other mythical forms of energy in mass quantities - regardless of whether the technology and science actually exists.

As has been quoted: "Catch-22 says they have a right to do anything we can't stop them from doing." And it becomes more apparent every day.