U.S. Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., says it’s time to pull the plug on America’s commitment to manufacturing ethanol as a way to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil. “It’s been a flop,” Welch said in an interview last week. “It was well intentioned, but it’s been a flop.”
Welch said he began revising his views on ethanol following discussions with Franklin County farmers who told them that ethanol in gasoline was wrecking the engines of their farm machinery and driving up the cost of feed corn.
h/t peterj
Not to mention what they are doing to our boats.
BTW, in a previous thread on ethanol, I made a mistake. The 30% reduction in Mileage was for e85, not e15.
I will still buy the no ethanol gas though, because it does increase the range of my vehicle noticeable, and only costs about 15% more.
I agree with Rep. Peter Welch when he says,”It was well intentioned, but it’s been a flop.”
I stopped using ethanol laced gasoline in my small motors a few years ago after hearing from others about engine problems.
Thanks Peter for digging this up.
at least these pros turn con once they talked to those who know, the farmers
having said that, they, as is usual, looked to an end result without considering the consequences of their actions. Typical of politicians and lefties.
If you only knew the damage I have seen due to ethanol… Not to mention the plethora of other fuel ingredients which are deleterious to combustion engines. I am also seeing a sharp increase of diesel engine failures due to urea. Yet another short sighted eco “cure”.
Slow learners should be booted from office. If ethanol was so great then farmers would use it exclusively, do any of them?
“It was well intentioned, but it’s been a flop.” That pretty much sums up most liberal programs, doesn’t it?
It’ll be a long slog and defeating the farm lobby will be the sloggiest part. Farmers are the most rapacious of rent seekers.
How could an intelligent person confuse ethanol with french fry grease?
Work with me, 60.
I’m trying to, but it’s like saying poodles are no different than malamutes for pulling sleds, after all they’re both dogs.
I’m one of the strongest supporters of the fact that making fuel ethanol from corn is the stupidest idea in a long time. However making useful fuel from an otherwise troublesome waste product like french fry grease is an entirely different situation. What could possibly be wrong with doing that? I’m an engineer, for us details are significant and important.
north 60, I get so annoyed and fed up with government programs and mandates (especially AGW related) that I generally go the opposite direction whenever possible.
I say it’s great that you voluntarily fill your fuel tank with used vegetable oil. There was a time I considered that. Now I wouldn’t because I don’t want anyone to confuse me with the Gore/Suzuki followers.
So ethanol and French fry grease are chemically distinct, but politically equivalent.
Malamutes are typically much better in the role, but a typical poodle is as trainable as a dog, so they can pull a sled.
Yeah well, the biggest problem with the powerful farm lobby is the role of large agribusiness such as Archer Daniels Midland….big players in the ethanol business.
Meanwhile farming being perfect competition the grain growers like high priced grain while the livestock guys like low priced grain…..not exactly a monolithic group mentality.
you missed the point; poodles don’t do well at 30 below as compared with malemutes
So ethanol and French fry grease are chemically distinct, but politically equivalent. Posted by: WalterF
only in your mind, but hey I’m tolerant of anyone’s religious beliefs.
I don’t believe in AGW, never have never will. Most earth scientists like me don’t buy into that BS.
The fryer oil I recycle into fuel has absolutely nothing to do with politics and I neither receive or expect any sort of government assistance to use it.
Who in Canukistan markets ethanol-free gasoline? They ALL use it don’t they?
Specifically north of Edmonton.
To those who object to fuel ethanol, I ask what you propose be done? Eliminate the subsidy? Eliminate the mandated use of ethanol? Ban its use as a fuel? Just what do you call for?
Almost all premium has only a few percent ethanol if any, and there’s not much in mid grade. Ethanol dissolves much more in water than gasoline, so it’s fairly easy to separate the ethanol to test how much is in the fuel. Take a small, clear glass, tall container and fill half with gasoline, and mark the top level. Add water, cap, and shake, then let settle. The ethanol will dissolve in the water and the change in the level between the two can be used to calculate the alcohol percent.
“If you only knew the damage I have seen due to ethanol…”
Aye, and it goes way beyond the innards of internal combustion engines. Across Ontario and into Quebec tens upon tens of thousands of acres and scrub and bush have been cleared for corn.
That’s the true monument to the stupidity of the greenies – the law of unintended (but not necessarily unanticipated) consequences.
Don’t forget about the impact this has had on wildlife habitat. The marginal acreage that farmers left alone and which was used by wildlife has not mostly been plowed under. If using ethanol is supposed to “save the planet”, what are we saving it for – to plant even more corn?
sasquatch;
What better method of introducing a utility type cost(reward) structure into agriculture. I am sure the party is not restricted to Archer Daniels.
Effect of 10% Premium ethanol gas use in my yard tractor was huge. By the time I realized what was happening I had replaced a number of parts and now supplement by gas supply with an additive which brings my cost up another 15%.
John Colapinto wrote an interesting story about used French fry grease in the New Yorker recently. The demand for the stuff is huge, because of biofuel mandates, so what was once given away freely to people who would haul it away is now a source of revenue for small restaurants, and a highly competitive market.
Unfortunately, it’s behind their paywall, or I’d put a link to it, but like N60, I’m an engineer, and found the mechanics and chemistry of it interesting.