Originally Posted By Darkbeer OK, this is a lengthy article, so I am only going to post selected paragraphs. Make sure and click on the link and read the entire article. (All 3 pages). <a href="http://www.businessweek.com/lifestyle/content/may2009/bw20090514_058678.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_lifestyle" target="_blank">http://www.businessweek.com/li...ifestyle</a> >>Where's the Logic? First, the primary job of the Environmental Protection Agency is, dare it be said, to protect our environment. Yet using ethanol actually creates more smog than using regular gas, and the EPA's own attorneys had to admit that fact in front of the justices presiding over the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in 1995 (API v. EPA). Second, truly independent studies on ethanol, such as those written by Tad Patzek of Berkeley and David Pimentel of Cornell, show that ethanol is a net energy loser. Other studies suggest there is a small net energy gain from it. Third, all fuels laced with ethanol reduce the vehicle's fuel efficiency, and the E85 blend drops gas mileage between 30% and 40%, depending on whether you use the EPA's fuel mileage standards (fueleconomy.gov) or those of the Dept. of Energy. Fourth, forget what biofuels have done to the price of foodstuffs worldwide over the past three years; the science seems to suggest that using ethanol increases global warming emissions over the use of straight gasoline. Just these issues should have kept ethanol from being brought back for its fourth run in American history. Don't let anybody mislead you: The new push to get a 15% ethanol mandate out of Washington is simply to restore profitability to a failed industry. Only this time around those promoting more ethanol in our gas say there's no scientific proof that adding more ethanol will damage vehicles or small gas-powered engines. With that statement they've gone from shilling the public to outright falsehoods, because ethanol-laced gasoline is already destroying engines across the country in ever larger numbers.<< >>Got a Spare $1,000? Last July was bad enough for motorists on a budget—gasoline prices had shot up to more than $4 a gallon. But for some the pain in the pocketbook was about to get worse. At City Garage in Euless, Tex., for example, the first of numerous future customers brought in an automobile whose fuel pump was shot. A quick diagnosis determined that that particular car had close to 18% ethanol in the fuel. For that unlucky owner, the repairs came to nearly $900. The ethanol fun was just beginning. City Garage manager Eric Greathouse has found that adding ethanol to the nation's gasoline supply may be a foolish government mandate, but it has an upside he'd rather not deal with. It's supplying his shop with a slow but steady stream of customers whose plastic fuel intakes have been dissolved by the blending of ethanol into our gasoline, or their fuel pumps destroyed. The average cost of repairs is just shy of $1,000. << I just don't get it... It has driven up food prices, and not just here in the US, places like Mexico have been hurt due to Corn prices dramatically rising due to Ethenol production. We have Governor Schwarzenegger going to Washington D.C. to join in a Press Conference with President Obama requiring the INCREASE of Miles per Gallon, while using Ethanol lowers it about 1/3'rd.... And now there are reports of Ethanol damaging cars... It doesn't save energy, it doesn't cut back on Greenhouse Gases. All it does is take our Tax Dollars and flush them down the drain, at a time when we do NOT need to being doing that. Why can't someone stand up and say STOP! We need CHANGE, and here is one place where it is clear, we need to drop this failed idea, and look elsewhere. And the benefits, tax dollars that can be spent elsewhere, the lowering of many food costs (many meat products are dependent or grain costs) and providing more food to help feed the world. It seems like a NO-Brainer!
