So are cars going to handle the stuff? Motorcycles? The proponents don't care, obviously, they just want to recoup their investment in the corn-cookers. I suspect my 2008 Hyundai is built for it (some of the articles say most new cars can run on E-85 without harm even if they aren't officially Flex-Fuel vehicles?). I'm not for this as the production is from foodstuffs, corn and whatnot. Besides, what's a cleaner fuel than low-sulphur, unleaded gasoline, burned in modern cars? Nothing. Hydrogen, maybe. But the process to produce THAT is dirty. I just don't see what's so wonderful about Ethanol when it robs the corn supply.
Just a taste of the article:
Ethanol Producers Press for Higher Limits
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 6, 2009; D01
The nation's ethanol producers are urging the Obama administration to raise the 10 percent limit on ethanol in motor fuel to 15 percent or more, a move they hope will create new demand at a time when many distilleries are idle.
The producers say higher ethanol blends would help create jobs and reduce petroleum imports. Moreover, without a change in the 10 percent limit, ethanol makers say it could be difficult to fulfill a congressional mandate for renewable fuel use and the makers of new forms of ethanol, which rely on raw materials other than corn, could be locked out of the fuel market.
Growth Energy plans to formally request a waiver today from the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the ethanol content of motor fuel to 15 percent.
Under the existing 10 percent limit, ethanol production would theoretically top out at 14 billion gallons a year based on current fuel consumption trends, or less because of transportation constraints that limit ethanol deliveries in many parts of the country. That falls far short of the targets in current law, which requires refiners to use 36 billion gallons a year of ethanol by 2022, up from the current 10.5 billion gallon production level. President Obama said during the presidential campaign that he favors a 60 billion-gallon-a-year target.
But many critics say the push for higher ethanol limits is really about propping up the heavily subsidized ethanol industry and giving a boost to venture capital firms that are still struggling to come up with an economically competitive way to produce other forms of ethanol made from plants that do not compete with food products.
Just a taste of the article:
Ethanol Producers Press for Higher Limits
By Steven Mufson
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, March 6, 2009; D01
The nation's ethanol producers are urging the Obama administration to raise the 10 percent limit on ethanol in motor fuel to 15 percent or more, a move they hope will create new demand at a time when many distilleries are idle.
The producers say higher ethanol blends would help create jobs and reduce petroleum imports. Moreover, without a change in the 10 percent limit, ethanol makers say it could be difficult to fulfill a congressional mandate for renewable fuel use and the makers of new forms of ethanol, which rely on raw materials other than corn, could be locked out of the fuel market.
Growth Energy plans to formally request a waiver today from the Environmental Protection Agency to raise the ethanol content of motor fuel to 15 percent.
Under the existing 10 percent limit, ethanol production would theoretically top out at 14 billion gallons a year based on current fuel consumption trends, or less because of transportation constraints that limit ethanol deliveries in many parts of the country. That falls far short of the targets in current law, which requires refiners to use 36 billion gallons a year of ethanol by 2022, up from the current 10.5 billion gallon production level. President Obama said during the presidential campaign that he favors a 60 billion-gallon-a-year target.
But many critics say the push for higher ethanol limits is really about propping up the heavily subsidized ethanol industry and giving a boost to venture capital firms that are still struggling to come up with an economically competitive way to produce other forms of ethanol made from plants that do not compete with food products.
