Ethanol's Dirty Little Secrets

TCS Daily ^ | 7/12/2006 | Tim Carney

[Jane2005]

Today's politicians try to justify ethanol's upward pressure on gasoline prices by touting it as a "clean fuel," but that claim is dubious. In fact, ethanol was on the verge of being outlawed by clean air laws in October, 1992, when President George Bush called for exempting ethanol from the Clean Air Act.

In the summer of 1991 an eclectic group from the petroleum industry, the ethanol industry, government agencies, and environmental groups all sat down to hammer out new regulations required by the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, setting stricter standards for automobile emissions of Carbon Monoxide and two types of emissions that cause smog: nitrogen oxide (NOx) and hydrocarbons. When the EPA implemented it in April of 1992, the ethanol industry, which had signed on to the agreement, immediately raised a cry -- the clean air rules might outlaw ethanol.

It turns out that, despite all the claims that ethanol is good for the environment, ethanol may be a net polluter in many ways.

[Grampa Dave]

[xpertskir]

Ethanol is a Corn State PORK PRODUCT, Nothing more and nothing less.

This is proven by its cost inefficiency, its net increase in pollution, and by the following: Ethanol can be created from just about any plant material to varying degrees of efficiency. The government has protected the corn ethanol producers by outlawing the use of sugar cane ethanol from south America.

If this was truly a viable product it wouldn't need to be propped up and protected by the government.

[ClaireSolt]

Youse guys are beating a dead horse. We are going to have ethanol because of Putin, Ahminijad, and Chavez. End of discussion.

[digger48]

Just wait until the price of gas/ethanol fluctuates during droughts and heavy rain in the corn belt

[Military family member]

The article is filled with so many scientific flaws, it's hard to know wherre to begin.

[Grampa Dave]

"Just wait until the price of gas/ethanol fluctuates during droughts and heavy rain in the corn belt."

My wife's family lives in the midwest, and they constantly have droughts, heavy rain at harvest or tornadoes going through the corn fiels.

Two years ago this October, late in the month, we were back in her home area for a funeral. The corn planted around the motel where we stayed wasn't harvested yet due to late rains. They had to harvest it anyway as a big wet storm was moving in as we left.

This stuff will be as big of a problem as MTBE was and still is re being in our gasolines.

[finnman69]

bump