More "Crony Capitalism" from Obama -- E15 coming soon to your car's gas tank!
Ken
2012/04/25 20:48:06
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The folly of E15 anti-hydrocarbon policies
By Paul Driessen
The Obama Administration’s anti-hydrocarbon ideology and “renewable”
energy mythology continues to subsidize crony capitalists and the
politicians they help keep in office – on the backs of American
taxpayers, ratepayers and motorists. The latest chapter in the sorry
ethanol saga is a perfect example.
Bowing
to pressure from ADM, Cargill, Growth Energy and other Big Ethanol
lobbyists, Lisa Jackson’s Environmental Protection Agency has decided to
allow ethanol manufacturers to register as suppliers of E15 gasoline.
E15 contains 15% ethanol, rather than currently mandated 10% blends.
The next lobbying effort will focus on getting E15 registered as a fuel
in individual states and persuading oil companies to offer it at
service stations. But according to the Associated Press and
Washington Post,
Team Obama already plans to provide taxpayer-financed grants, loans and
loan guarantees to “help station owners install 10,000 blender pumps
over the next five years” and promote the use of biofuels.
Pummeled by Obama policies that have helped send regular gasoline
prices skyrocketing from $1.85 a gallon when he took office to $4.00
today – many motorists will welcome any perceived “bargain gas.” E15
will likely reduce their obvious pump pain by several cents a gallon,
thus persuading people to fill up their cars, trucks and maybe even
boats, lawnmowers and other equipment with the new blends.
[Any saving at the pump on the
price of E15 will be a false saving. Ethanol contains only 60% of the
energy of gasoline, so by replacing 15% of gasoline with ethanol, there
will be 6% less energy (.15 X .40) in every gallon of E15 than in a gallon of
non-ethanol gasoline, resulting in lower mileage. In order for E15 to
actually save money at the pump, it would have to sell at less than $3.76 a gallon
when non-ethanol gasoline was selling at $4.00. If you could get 30
mpg on straight gasoline, your mileage would be ~ 28.2 mpg on E15, because
of its lower energy content.]
That would be a huge mistake.
E15 gasoline will be cheaper because we already paid for it with
decades of taxpayer subsidies that the Congressional Budget Office says
cost taxpayers $1.78 every time a gallon of ethanol replaced a gallon of
gasoline. Ethanol blends get fewer miles per tank than gasoline. More
ethanol means even worse mileage. People may save at the pump, but cost
per mile will increase, as will car maintenance and repair costs.
Ethanol collects water, which can cause engine stalls. It corrodes
plastic, rubber and soft metal parts. Pre-2001 car engines, parts and
systems may not be able to handle E15, which could also increase
emissions and adversely affect engine, fuel pump and sensor durability.
Older cars and motorcycles mistakenly (or for price or convenience)
fueled with E15 could conk out on congested highways or in the middle of
nowhere, boat engines could die miles from land or in the face of a
thunderstorm, and snowmobiles could sputter to a stop in a frigid
wilderness.
Homeowners and yard care professionals have voiced concerns that E15’s
corrosive qualities could damage their gasoline-powered equipment.
Because it burns hotter than gasoline, high ethanol gasoline engines
could burn users or cause lawnmowers, chainsaws, trimmers, blowers and
other outdoor power equipment to start inadvertently or catch fire, they
worry.
Comment: While Obama rants against "crony capitalism," his administration has been the biggest proponent of it, ever!
Top Opinion
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Kane Fernau 2012/04/25 21:14:38
Here is another thing, the United States pays a dollar for every barrel of Ethanol that is in the ship. They get that dollar even though most of the ethanol is not pumped out of the ship and then it gets discounted in Europe.
I read that if there was a energy gain is was around 2%. This was in an article written about 3 years ago.
Dr. Williams says it takes more than one gallon of fossil fuel to produce a gallon of ethanol. He says it's 20% to 30% less efficient than gasoline, but I believe it contains only 60% as much energy as gas.