You’ll remember that I mentioned, back on September 21st, that the EPA was considering greenlight the use of 15% ethanol gasoline, and the confusion it would create. Looks like they do not care, they’re on a mission from Gaia
The Obama administration plans to allow higher levels of ethanol for gasoline used by newer cars, a step that would benefit corn growers but which has been strongly opposed by auto makers, livestock ranchers, oil refiners and some public-health advocates.
As early as Wednesday, the Environmental Protection Agency plans to announce it will allow ethanol levels in gasoline blends to be as high as 15% for vehicles made since 2007, up from 10% currently, according to two people familiar with the matter.
For cars made between 2001 and 2006, the agency will say it is awaiting the outcome of additional research and not ready to announce a decision.
So, exactly how will this work? Will there be just one or two pumps that have the E15 blend? Will people just have to know? Will there be someone out there directing people? What happens if you make a mistake? In states that do no allow you to pump your own gas, will the attendants have to ask what year your car is? Imagine the problems during rush hour, or on a Friday or Saturday afternoon during the summer in New Jersey, as everyone heads to the Shore (yes, Saturday too, because that is the turnover day for most weekly house rentals). Or will station managers/owners say something like “this is way too much of a pain. Just keep the E10 in all pumps”?
Anticipating such criticism, the EPA plans to also solicit comment on how gasoline pumps should be labeled, so as to avoid or reduce the potential that drivers will put the wrong fuel into their cars, the people familiar with the matter said.
How many of you look at the pump, other than to put your card in and pick the blend? Ranchers, the oil industry, auto makers, and, yes, even environmentalists oppose this project. What if the consumer makes a mistake? Will that leave the station liable for engine damage? Valero and Marathon Oil say they may not sell E15 even when approved.
No such split of the market exists for the 10% blend currently dispensed by almost every U.S. gasoline retailer. About four of every five gallons of gasoline sold has the 10% ethanol blend. But if E15 is approved on a limited basis, gas stations must decide if they want to invest up to $25,000 for new tank and gasoline dispensing systems to accommodate the new fuel.
“I’m not going to put in an E15 pump even if they legalize it. It’s too expensive. I’ll just keep selling the 10% blend,” Roz Jalali, owner of a Conoco station in West Des Moines, Iowa, told the newspaper.
And then there are the problems with using more food as fuel. Corn is already up in recent days. If you use more corn as fuel the price of corn will go up further, and leave less corn for food and feed. Then the price of other foods, such as beef, pork, and chicken increase.
Interestingly, one of the big groups behind the push for E15 is Growth Energy, an ethanol trade group led by Wesley Clark. They stand to make some serious cash if approved.
BTW, know where that cartoon came from? Treehugger, which is not thrilled with Ethanol.
Crossed at Right Wing News and Stop The ACLU. Re-Change 2010!
Alcohol made from corn should be aged in oak barrels.
yeah Teach this is going to be REAL confusing to stupid people. Teach perhaps you should read that we are now moving into Generation 2 ethanol production which does not use food stocks. The American company Range Fuels announced in July 2007 that it was awarded a construction permit from the state of Georgia to build the first commercial-scale 100-million-gallon-per-year cellulosic ethanol plant in the United States.[9] Construction began in November, 2007.[10]
The U.S. could potentially produce 1.3 billion dry tons of cellulosic biomass per year[11], which has the energy content of four billion barrels of crude oil. This translates to 65% of American oil consumption.[citation needed]
http://www.rangefuels.com/
Ethanol from food stocks was the first generation process, and of course it mostly benefited the Red states, not the Blue.
AS for the increase in food stocks teach perhaps you would like to tell us how much that will impact the price of corn and how much that will effect the price of say beef or chicken.
If the price of corn is increased by 10% because of its use in fuel AND feedlot corn price is 10% of the value of cattle then we can expect our meat prices to SURGE about 1%. Teach is that something YOU would even notice ? http://www.ers.usda.gov/AmberWaves/February08/Features/CornPrices.htm
Once again teach you are just being alarmist.
That’s great, John, and, yes, I do know about the other types of biofuels, which I approve of. Wouldn’t it be great if we could turn our garbage into fuel? Some are researching just that.
However, the majority of ethanol used in the USA comes from corn.
If the price of corn is increased by 10% because of its use in fuel AND feedlot corn price is 10% of the value of cattle then we can expect our meat prices to SURGE about 1%
Ya gotta admire someone who doesn’t read their own citations.
For Ryan, ignorance is not only bliss, but a way of life.
Don’t you just love how we have too much food laying around this world. So much food around that no one is starving, low on food, and that this corn would be wasted otherwise.
Glad to know that we don’t waste unwanted or unneeded food in this world.
As for confusions, remember when we migrated from Regular Leaded fuel to Unleaded. We had pumps that pumped both Leaded and Unleaded. Just like we have pumps that pump Unleaded and Diesel fuels.
But, that is all besides the point.
Why would we as human-caring humans, want to take food out of the starving people’s mouths and use massive amounts of water and petroleum to place that corn in our tanks? And increase the price of that gas (because ethanol does not stay around very well or haul well), and decrease our gas mileage.
It’s forcing the use of ethanol, which is more detrimental tham helpful and which does nothing to stem the use of oil, that make the environmentalists look lame.
When you can admit to the disaster it is, we can talk.
And when you stop pretending it will work to lessen pollution and reduce oil/gas usage, we can talk.
I don’t care what generation of ethanol we’re talking about- it’s a mistake to count these chickens. They will come home to roost. And crap all over us.