AMA's efforts to prohibit E15

[Drjones]

Perspective:

Brazil:

48 mil vehicles and about 10 mil on E100 (20%)
6 billion gal of Ethanol used per year for internal use
17 mil acres devoted to that E100 production

USA

260 mil vehicles
138 billion gal gas used per year
442 mil acres of cropland total

Assume a very rough estimate of the same 20% of vehicles were converted to E100 and equal useage of gas per vehicle and the USA would need to devote 18% of our total cropland for ethanol production.  Sweet! Can't wait!


Rough numbers derived from available figures on teh interwebs in about 10 min during my lunch break.

[muskrat]

And the price of beef along with so many things sky high.  Still waiting on hydrogen.   

[Drjones]

I'll be dead and ground up into biofuel by the time Hydrogen comes around to viability as a transportation medium.  Then again maybe that's the ticket for the alternate fuel problem; people!  Hey it worked for Soylent Green.

[ducatiz]

Congress dumped the tariffs on Brazilian ethanol, which means (hypothetically) we could get E100 fuel in the US for around $2/gallon if we had E100 cars.  They use the far more efficient cane ethanol which grows much faster and is basically a weed there.

Ethanol is a fine fuel for an engine designed for it.  I would happily pay $2/gal for a small car that got around 30 mpg versus paying $4/gal for gas/E10 and getting the same mileage.

[Drjones]

That weed is still a plant that needs to be cultivated ergo still takes up crop/agriculture land.  Rainforest/CO2 sink. Food. Cheap autofuel.  Pick two.

[Two dogs]

Thankfully down here in Australia the powers that be have reversed their mandate on E10 now
making it not compulsory .
A fuel that is not good for a lot of older cars which we have a lot of here and gives poor milage return was
un wanted by the public, not to mention why the make the beast with two backs are we growing crops to fuel cars 
 ASSmazing a government that actually listened to the public .

The local ethanol producers had shot them selves in the foot by raising prices thinking
they were going to cash in.
The price here for E10 has gone up so much it was almost level with 91 our lowest octane fuel
so with reduced distance delivered from it there is no reason to run it.
The outlets for fuel have now wasted a lot of money on setting up the stations to deliver a fuel no one wants
sucked in  they have been ripping us off for years with price spiking and fixing above the recommended price.
The pessimist in me says they will no doubt recoup their losses by raising the prices again to cover their wasted investment.

[HotIce]

Response from Zoe Lofgren D-CA:

Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 748, to prohibit the EPA from authorizing the use of gasoline containing greater than 10 percent ethanol. I appreciate that you took the time to share your thoughts with me.
I understand your concerns with the use of gasoline blends that contain more than 10 percent ethanol, such as E15. You may be interested to know that the House Science Committee's Energy and Environment Subcommittee held a hearing on July 7th on "Hitting the Ethanol Blend Wall: Examining the Science on E15." As a senior member of the Committee, please know that I will keep your comments in mind as we continue to assess the potential effects of E15.
Again, thanks for being in touch. If I may be of assistance to you or your family, please don't hesitate to contact me.


Linky:

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CHRG-112hhrg67254/pdf/CHRG-112hhrg67254.pdf

Still has to read the whole thing above.

[hillbillypolack]

House panel blocks sale of E15.  For what it's worth.

"The Science Committee in the House of Representatives has a approved a bill that would prevent the Environmental Protection Agency from allowing the use of gasoline with a higher ethanol content without additional study.

According to The Detroit News, the bill was sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wisconsin and passed 19-7 along party lines after numerous groups spoke out against E15. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, the Friends of the Earth, the Milk Producers Council, the American Bakers Association and the National Turkey Federation all pushed for further E15 study.

Last year, the government estimated more domestic corn was used for ethanol than to feed farm animals, and opponents of ethanol argue E15 would only lead to steeper food prices across the country.

Congress just recently ended a 30-year tax subsidy on corn-based ethanol and put a stop to tariffs on the fuel imported from Brazil. The subsidy alone reportedly cost taxpayers $6 billion annually. All told, Congress has awarded the ethanol industry $45 billion in subsidies since 1980. "

http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/09/house-panel-blocks-sale-of-e15/

[nicrosato]

Here in NY, we have 10% ethanol in our fuels.  Its bad enough what the E10 does to my small engines and boat.

Certainly messed up the outboard on my sailboat.

[Greg]

I hope that becomes the truth

"Valero Energy Corp., which produces more than 1 billion gallons of ethanol annually, more than any other company in the U.S. aside from Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Poet LLC, said it has no intention of selling E15 at any of its 1,000 company-owned retail fuel stores. “Because E15 has not been approved for use in all engines and hasn’t received warranty protection from engine manufacturers, we can’t guarantee its performance and we won’t sell a product we can’t guarantee,” said Bill Day, executive director of media relations for Valero. Some Valero-branded fuel stations are independently owned, however, and Day said those stations can choose to offer E15, but they would have to locate the dispensers under a separate canopy."