How the EPA May Have Ruined Your Super Bowl Party

No, it's not a stretch: federal fuel mandates are going to impact the menu at Super Bowl parties nationwide.How many of you were planning on eating chicken wings at your Big Game gathering Feb. 3? Many venues are reporting there will be potential shortages, and perhaps higher prices this year.

Super Bowl Sunday always results in a HUGE run on chicken wings, but the EPA has made it more expensive, according to the National Chicken Council.

How?

Answer: ethanol.

According to the National Chicken Council, so much corn has been set aside to make the alternative fuel it has depleted corn supplies, including chicken feed. According to the NCC's Chief Economist and Market Analyst, Bill Roenigk:

Corn makes up more than two-thirds of chicken feed and corn prices hit an all-time high in 2012, due to two reasons:  last summer’s drought and pressure from a federal government requirement that mandates 40 percent of our corn crop be turned into fuel in the form of ethanol,” said Roenigk. “Simply put, less corn equals higher feed costs, which means fewer birds produced.

The pro-ethanol group Growth Energy has cried fowl on the NCC information, saying there are no mandates for using corn for ethanol, and that the 40% figure is actually 17%.

However, Growth Energy is lying because there are federal EPA mandates for ethanol production, including laws requiring increasing amounts of production of the questionable fuel each year. While ethanol does work, numerous studies have shown it is not as reliable and does not burn as efficiently as fossil fuels, and ethanol diesel has even shown to freeze in fuel systems in sub-zero temperatures. A few years ago, the Minneapolis school bus fleet was stranded due to ethanol diesel fuel turning to jelly in the engines!

The New York Times reported last fall the EPA refused to relax its ethanol production mandates despite a drought that severely impacted the amount of corn grown in the U.S. last year. The result was higher feed, higher prices, fewer birds raised and shortages of some chicken products.

So if you see higher chicken wing prices, or stores and bars running out of them sooner than expected during your Super Bowl festivities, thank your own Environmental Protection Agency.