The Ethanol Papers - Paperturn manuscript - Flipbook - Page 552
allegorical boogeyman to frighten children into good behaviour (please note my
British spelling of the word "behavior" - I did this in the interest of continuing
warm relations with our cousins on the other side of the pond).
I replied to Hugo and wrote:
"I understand that there is great division of thought on this issue.
Oil industry money has created this division and kept it alive.
"However, the facts are that no gasoline-powered vehicles are damaged because of ethanol-gasoline blends - not in the 60 years that
ethanol-gasoline blends were extensively marketed in Great Britain
between the 1920's to the 1970's, not in France or Germany or Sweden or any other European country, not in Brazil for the past 50+
years, and not even in Brazil in the years since they've mandated
E25 and then E27.
"The RAC Foundation, like the AAA, has probably received significant remuneration from the oil industry and so they are happy to go
along with the rubbish.
"Ethanol does not damage engines, it cleans engines. This isn't to
say that internal combustion engines that run on ethanol-gasoline
blends don't experience deterioration over time owing to wear and
tear and the general nature of the fact that there are moving parts,
and that fuel is exploding and combusting within its walls. But to
blame ethanol for this, as if gasoline (petrol) is not the primary cause
of the problems is ludicrous.
"Ethanol has been blamed for corrosion to rubber, plastic, and aluminum; however it is gasoline that is corrosive to those substances.
It is gasoline that required the invention of a new rubber (Viton)
many years ago to stop corrosion, not ethanol. And any metallic
substance that can experience rust problems because of ethanol
will experience the same results from gasoline.
"I read through the UK Department for Transport document via the
link you sent. It is incorrect and it ignores the history of Great Britain's use of ethanol-gasoline blends from Cleveland Discol and Cities Service for many decades. The Dept. for Transport's document
should have started off by reminding any reader that ethanol-gasoline blends have a long and successful history of use in Great
