2012 Contribution
New Ethanol Product Fuels a Very Washington Battle
I originally came across a WSJ article with minimal
information about the new E15 fuel. In summary, the Environmental Protection
Agency has been pushing a 15% Ethanol car fuel, which is a change from out
current 10% Ethanol car fuel. AAA was fighting against the bill to approve E15,
but lost.
According to AAA, they conducted a survey, where 95%
of respondents had not heard of E15 or the damage it could do to older cars.
Currently, only 5% of cars (2001 or later models) on the roads can safely run
on E15 fuel.
There were many arguments in the comments of this
article, mostly stemming from the environmental and ‘cheaper fuel’ debate. I
don’t know what the correct solution is to our fuel consumption problem
(personally, I take the bus everywhere), but more corn ethanol does not seem
like a good solution to me.
Billions of dollars go into GMO corn subsidies. Those
who are excited about a cost break at the pump are not aware of the true cost
of ethanol. Those who are excited about less environmental impact of ethanol
compared to fossil fuels are not considering the impact of killing soil (and
frankly humans) with toxic chemicals that are needed for a corn monoculture to
survive. Some experts argue that when you compare net emissions from all
factors, there is no reduction in greenhouse gases by using ethanol.
Additionally, the process of turning corn into ethanol produces the byproduct
of carbon dioxide. Is this not counter productive?! Not to mention, it will
likely become far more expensive to fix broken hoses/pumps/etc… for E15 use.
I went in search of more statistics and came across an
article from Scientific American titled “For a Healthier Country, Overhaul Farm
Subsidies”. It states that commodity crops receive $4.9 billion per year under
the current Farm Bill. “Between 1985 and 2010 the price of beverages sweetened
with high-fructose corn syrup dropped 24 percent.” Any internet search will
tell you the health care costs associated with excess corn and corn-derivative
consumption. This, in turn, adds additional taxes/costs to the consumer. The
fact is, ethanol is not as powerful as gasoline. From a dollars perspective,
ethanol will cost taxpayers more in fuel costs because it takes more ethanol to
power cars.
I admit that I am biased against corn, but we cannot
deny there is more behind Ethanol than cheaper pump prices. Many lobbyists
preach that Ethanol is a panacea to our fuel problems, but the true cost and
downstream effects are far reaching.
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