The Problem
With Ethanol / The Three Phony Assumptions
- Phony assumption #1: ethanol will reduce the
price at the pump.
- Maybe it would have six months ago, but
it is now more expensive than gasoline, which is declining in price
much faster than ethanol.
- Phony assumption #2: ethanol will improve air
quality.
- There is no proof, nor any way to prove
this statement. For every study that says ethanol will improve air
quality there is another study that says it won't. There are studies
that say it will reduce certain green house gasses and other studies
that say it will increase other noxious chemicals.
- This argument is dubious when you consider
the clearing of rain forests in third world countries to either
plant more sugar for ethanol or to replace the loss of food crop
imports, especially soy beans
- Phony assumption #3: ethanol will reduce our
dependence on foreign oil.
- Just because you say this over and over it
doesn't make it so. Nobody actually knows if it is true.
- There has never been a statistically significant,
independent study of mileage before and after a mandatory E10 program.
Without such a study there is no way to prove this statement.
- Nobody knows how the engine control units
in cars respond to E10. It is clear that some handle it better than
others, because there are many reported cases of mileage decreasing
10% or more, which would indicate that a lot of cars are using more
gasoline than before the ethanol mandates. Who knows how many? Where
is the data?
What Needs
To Be Done In Oregon
- The Oregon mandatory ethanol law has been superseded
by the federal RFS mandate EISA 2007. The state mandate needs to be
repealed for two reasons:
- There is no escape clause in HB-2210. Now
that ethanol is more expensive than gasoline, Oregon has the highest
gasoline price in the four Northwestern states according to AAA.
(Be sure to take the tax out.) No matter what the price of ethanol,
Oregonians will have to pay it. Even worse, if ethanol becomes unavailable
for any reason, mother nature or shortage because ethanol companies
go bankrupt and can no longer deliver, then gasoline distribution
must cease. If a terminal can't get ethanol, it cannot ship gasoline,
especially if all of its blending stock is suboctane.
- SB-1079, the promised relief for the people
who can't use ethanol blended gasoline in certain engines doesn't
work. Large areas of rural Oregon have no access to unblended fuel.
SB-1079 does not prohibit suboctane production of premium unleaded.
If premium unleaded is taken suboctane, which is rumored, SB-1079
will be worthless.
- The mandate needs to be repealed and a new law
passed prohibiting the blending of ethanol in premium unleaded gasoline.
- Repealing the mandate and prohibiting ethanol
blending in premium unleaded will not interfere with the ethanol
mandate in EISA 2007, because EISA isn't an E10 mandate anyway.
- Oregon will see no change in ethanol blending
in regular gasoline unless EISA 2007 is repealed.
- If the state ethanol mandate is not repealed
and premium unleaded gasoline is not protected from ethanol blending
there will be a direct negative impact on aviation and other SB-1079
constituents in Oregon, because there is the high likelihood that premium
unleaded gasoline will be taken suboctane by the end of 2009.
Please Join The Ethanol Free Premium Coalition
We are looking for people willing to work on legislation in each state
to prohibit the blending of ethanol into premium unleaded gasoline and
requiring the accurate labeling of pumps that dispense ethanol.
If you are interested in supporting the Coalition please email
us, or use the contact button above, and we will add your name in the state
list below. You will be able to contact others in your state with a similar
interest.
If you need information, with references, in order to frame arguments against
ethanol blending, use these Talking Points.