The EPA's new mandate: Pump grass, not gas

If you think the government is penalizing – or is it taxing? – people for not buying health insurance is bad, at least there are health insurance companies actually selling coverage. By contrast, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) fined oil refiners $6.8 million last year for not incorporating cellulosic ethanol in gasoline – even though the product doesn’t exist.

That’s right. As bizarre as it sounds, the New York Times reports that oil refiners were required to blend 6.6 million gallons of cellulosic ethanol – a biofuel made from grasses such as switchgrass, woodchips, the inedible pa...