“Ethanol is here to stay,” newly confirmed Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced last weekend, “and we’re going to work for new technologies to be more efficient.”

Perdue said this flanked by two Republican Iowa lawmakers, wearing a pin that should win an award for best or most obscure special-interest lobbying swag. It read, “Don’t mess with the RFS,” referring to the federal requirement that the nation’s gasoline supply be diluted with massive amounts of ethanol — 19.3 billion gallons of the stuff annually.