5 thoughts on “WSJ: Fueling the Trump-Cruz Divorce”
The best (and maybe only) way to stop the ethanol scam is by market action. Politics won’t do it. Just don’t buy ethanol fuel.
Four years ago where I live in Kalispell, Montana, there were only about four gas stations that provided non-ethanol fuel. As people became aware of the problems with ethanol fuel, these stations got the most business.
Now, virtually every gas station sells ethanol-free premium fuel. Lots of folks like me are happy to pay a little more for ethanol-free fuel. We use it for our cars, lawn mowers, and chain saws. It saves us money in repairs. If the rest of America does the same thing, we will kill the ethanol fuel business.
Who knows if Trump really supports ethanol. Everyone says they support it so they can get votes in the Midwest. It isn’t just Iowa – Nebraska, North – South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas – depend on ethanol in a major way to help corn farmers. There are also lesser corn producing states. You don’t want to irritate these folks during the primary.
But agreed, from a cost/benefit point of view, ethanol is bad news. I guess adding small amounts (like 3%) can have a positive effect on pollution, however, the 10-15% that is being encouraged in gasoline is way overkill for that purpose.
Ethanol is a piss poor fuel, it sucks moisture from the atmosphere around it, leaves a lot of fouling residue in fuel tanks, lines and combustion chamber surfaces. It causes a dramatic increase to maintenance costs and a marked decrease to fuel efficiency. You can make ethanol that burns hot and clean. EPA and OSHA are fighting tooth&nail to stop that, insisting on a low-grade and dirty product that had to be forced into use through passing laws and threatening Americans with jail time and fines for NOT using it.
Why is there any need to formulate ANY other argument against government mandated ethanol beyond the above paragraph? Just the facts, mam.
Ethanol IS worse than wind, which is bad mainly because it is unreliable and has an outrageous start-up capital requirement per generator.
Ethanol will *reliably* destroy internal combustion engines because it contains water (sucked out of the air by the ethanol) that corrodes ferrous metals, especially when combined with heat and oxygen, and because it slowly dissolves the resin in fiberglass fuel tanks, depositing the goo elsewhere such as in the fuel lines and the carburetor or the fuel injectors.
Ask any owner of a motorboat how his ethanol-burning engines are doing lately.
Ethanol is probably no worse than Wind, the major subsidy-driven energy form, given the small % of America’s power that Wind produces.
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The best (and maybe only) way to stop the ethanol scam is by market action. Politics won’t do it. Just don’t buy ethanol fuel.
Four years ago where I live in Kalispell, Montana, there were only about four gas stations that provided non-ethanol fuel. As people became aware of the problems with ethanol fuel, these stations got the most business.
Now, virtually every gas station sells ethanol-free premium fuel. Lots of folks like me are happy to pay a little more for ethanol-free fuel. We use it for our cars, lawn mowers, and chain saws. It saves us money in repairs. If the rest of America does the same thing, we will kill the ethanol fuel business.
Who knows if Trump really supports ethanol. Everyone says they support it so they can get votes in the Midwest. It isn’t just Iowa – Nebraska, North – South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kansas – depend on ethanol in a major way to help corn farmers. There are also lesser corn producing states. You don’t want to irritate these folks during the primary.
But agreed, from a cost/benefit point of view, ethanol is bad news. I guess adding small amounts (like 3%) can have a positive effect on pollution, however, the 10-15% that is being encouraged in gasoline is way overkill for that purpose.
Ethanol is a piss poor fuel, it sucks moisture from the atmosphere around it, leaves a lot of fouling residue in fuel tanks, lines and combustion chamber surfaces. It causes a dramatic increase to maintenance costs and a marked decrease to fuel efficiency. You can make ethanol that burns hot and clean. EPA and OSHA are fighting tooth&nail to stop that, insisting on a low-grade and dirty product that had to be forced into use through passing laws and threatening Americans with jail time and fines for NOT using it.
Why is there any need to formulate ANY other argument against government mandated ethanol beyond the above paragraph? Just the facts, mam.
Ethanol IS worse than wind, which is bad mainly because it is unreliable and has an outrageous start-up capital requirement per generator.
Ethanol will *reliably* destroy internal combustion engines because it contains water (sucked out of the air by the ethanol) that corrodes ferrous metals, especially when combined with heat and oxygen, and because it slowly dissolves the resin in fiberglass fuel tanks, depositing the goo elsewhere such as in the fuel lines and the carburetor or the fuel injectors.
Ask any owner of a motorboat how his ethanol-burning engines are doing lately.
Ethanol is probably no worse than Wind, the major subsidy-driven energy form, given the small % of America’s power that Wind produces.