The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 455
THE NEW MILLENIUM
Faced with some actual governmental actions that were detrimental to gasoline/diesel dominance, instead of the virtual carte blanche pro-petroleum fuel
policies that they usually receive from the government, the petroleum oil industry is facing serious challenges to its primacy. For the time being, at least, methanol has receded in importance as the solution to gasoline and petroleum diesel, and ethanol has taken center stage. Ethanol's importance is being aided by
the potential of ubiquitous availability and next-generation vehicle engine development, which will require increasingly higher proportions of ethanol in every
ethanol-gasoline blended fuel in order to meet performance and emissions requirements.
The petroleum oil industry has responded by opening its coffers to pay for any
and all attacks on ethanol and other alternative fuels. Ironically, the oil industry
even originally included its own by-products, compressed natural gas, and propane gas, as targets of these attacks, although they have since backed off on
CNG and they now ignore propane as an engine fuel. The only "alt-fuel" to be
spared has been electric, and that's because the oil industry knows that electricpowered passenger vehicles will not be a serious contender for years to come,
if ever. So in the meantime, Big Oil uses electric as a diversion to pretend they
have an altruistic conscience.
PROFESSIONAL and AMATEUR ETHANOL HATERS
The bounties offered by the oil industry's open coffers are substantial, so substantial that they attract highfalutin ad agencies and PR firms, many of America's leading academic institutions, and a slew of writers and spokespeople (with
and without graduate degrees). This group forms the professional corps of ethanol critics. I disagree with their messages, but I understand the rationale behind prostituting themselves (and, after all, prostitution doesn't carry the social
stigma it once did).
These people utilize pseudo-science and wishful thinking, backed by their own
academic degrees or the academic degrees held by their fellow corpsmen. I'll
address this group shortly.
The non-professional corps of ethanol boo-birds consists largely of unknown
and disguised guys and gals who haunt Internet message boards and phonein call boards of radio talk shows during discussions on fuels, energy, and government subsidies. They offer up some of the most ridiculous lies that you'll
