The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 388
should be removed and then let's see how it can stand on its own. If all oil
subsidies were removed gasoline would probably cost $15 or more per gallon.
In addition, our country's enslavement to petroleum oil has been responsible for
the death of hundreds of thousands of American servicemen. To date, not one
American soldier, sailor or airman has been killed defending the production and
distribution of domestic ethanol fuel.
You say that ethanol negatively affects the food market and prices. This is false.
The originator of this theory 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 also stated that ethanol damages engines. This is a gross over-statement.
Ethanol cleans internal combustion engines; it prolongs the life of internal combustion engines. Ethanol allows gasoline to be safely used in internal combustion engines. If ethanol was not blended with gasoline for use in automobiles
some other antiknock 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 tetraethyl 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.
You complain that the ethanol-blended gasolines are not free-market, but this
is false because ethanol-free gasoline is available. The 6 decades of being
forced to use ethanol-free gasoline was not a free-market. Ethanol is a true freemarket because anyone, anywhere can produce it out of a wide variety of materials.
It is impossible to be a patriotic American and not support the ethanol industry
in favor of the oil industry. I would rather have my fuel money go to American
farmers than to foreign dictators.
I hope you'll take the time to learn the truth. The problem with someone like
yourself taking such a dogmatically incorrect position is that it casts a great pale
over everything else you argue for - if you are wrong about ethanol, how many
other issues might you be wrong about.
