The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 393
shows that you have no concept of how commerce works. American farmers
grow as much corn as they do specifically because they have sales orders to
do so. If there was no market for corn ethanol they wouldn't grow so much.
In 2000, U.S. corn production was 251,854 metric tons; with 226,668 MT going
to feed people and livestock. In 2013, because of the market for corn ethanol,
U.S. corn production was estimated to be 353,715 metric tons. If 40% went to
produce ethanol it left approximately the same amount for human and animal
consumption, and there was still a surplus. Moreover, a significant by-product
of ethanol production is the creation of distillers-grains, which is widely used for
animal consumption. Therefore, no American went without corn chips, corn
flakes, or corn-on-the-cob.
You intimate that ethanol production has caused human food prices to rise. This
is also false. The originator of the theory that ethanol production raises the price
of food was The World Bank in a report they published about 10 years ago. The
World Bank has since officially retracted that report on at least two occasions.
It is the cost of petroleum oil and its finished fuels that have caused food prices
to rise.
You then launch into the oil-industry invented lie that ethanol causes engine
problems and top it off by writing "In fact, many vehicle manufacturers will no
longer offer warranties when ethanol comprises 10 percent or more of fuel..."
Ethanol does not cause engine problems, it solves engine problems. Ethanol
cleans internal combustion engines; it prolongs the life of internal combustion
engines. It removes excess water that would cause fuel-line freezing in cold
climates. Ethanol allows gasoline to be safely used in internal combustion engines. If ethanol was not blended with gasoline for use in automobiles some
other anti-knock agent would have to be used. The choices are tetra-ethyl lead,
MTBE, or a cocktail of so-called aromatics. We already know that lead is poisonous, and after 6 decades of being forced to use it, it was finally banned in
most instances. MTBEs are also poisonous and banned. The concoction of aromatics used in ethanol-free gasoline is as poisonous as tetra-ethyl lead, and
ethanol-free gasoline is more expensive than gasoline blended with ethanol. If
no anti-knock agent is used in an automobile engine it would literally knock itself
apart.
In addition, more and more vehicle manufacturers are now warranting the use
of E15 (along with warranting E10), and more vehicle manufacturers are supporting the move towards E30 as being the most optimum fuel to help support
new engine designs and achieve future emissions goals. I can't imagine where
