Posted on 04/26/2002 4:23:07 AM PDT by buzzyboop
Talk about chickens coming home to roost.
The Senate this week bestowed its blessing upon a proposal, by Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, to triple the amount of corn-based ethanol added to gasoline.
Daschle, the South Dakota Democrat, argued that the new federal mandate would yield cleaner-burning fuel, reducing smog above the nation's skylines, while also curbing America's reliance on foreign oil.
But the new ethanol requirement almost certainly will mean higher pump prices for motorists on the West and East coasts. Ninety-eight percent of the nation's ethanol plants are located in Corn Belt states – like South Dakota. That means ethanol will have to be transported by rail to the two coasts, at no small expense. That does not set well with lawmakers representing the nation's two most populous states.
"Unconscionable, selfish and parochial," is how California Sen. Dianne Feinstein described the ethanol mandate. It will "hurt consumers dramatically," said New York Sen. Charles Schumer.
Yet, New York and California lawmakers have only themselves to blame for having a new ethanol mandate forced upon their states. For they allowed themselves to be duped by the environmental left, blithely going along with a ban on the gasoline additive methyl tertiary ether (MTBE), which is as clean-burning as ethanol, but far more economical.
Like ethanol, MTBE is an "oxygenate." And motor vehicles fueled by oxygenated gas emit less smog-producing compounds from their tailpipes than those fueled by non-oxygenated gas.
Which is why a 1990 amendment to the federal Clean Air Act required oxygenated gas to be used in the nation's most smog-ridden cities, including Los Angeles and San Diego.
Since 1995, when California service stations began selling gasoline reformulated with MTBE, the oxygenate is credited with reducing carbon monoxide pollution by roughly 10 percent in Southern California.
Yet the enviros were not happy. Not because they didn't welcome cleaner air. But because they never met a chemical they could bring themselves to like. Because they believe, as an article of faith, that the chemical industry is inherently evil.
So the enviros manufactured an MTBE scare. They claimed that the chemical caused cancer. They warned MTBE was leeching into the underground water supply of any number of municipalities, endangering the health of unsuspecting residents.
And lawmakers in California and New York, among other states, bit. In 1999, California Gov. Gray Davis issued an executive order to ban MTBE by December of this year. And, in 2000, New York Gov. George Pataki followed suit, signing a law banning the chemical beginning in 2004.
As it turns out, the decisions made by the two governors were based on unsound science. Indeed, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment commissioned a scientific panel to study MTBE. It concluded that there was no evidence the chemical posed a cancer threat to human beings.
As to the matter of MTBE leeching into municipal water supplies, that had nothing to do with the chemical's properties. It was entirely attributable to the failure of oil companies to keep their underground storage facilities properly maintained. In fact, when those underground tanks leak, the biggest danger to the water supply, the biggest threat to health, is not MTBE. It is benzene and toluene, two chemicals found in gasoline that are indisputably cancer-causing.
So now California and New York can look forward to replacing MTBE, which is much cheaper, much easier to produce and transport than ethanol. And motorists in the Golden State, in the Empire State, can look forward to ethanol supply shortages and gasoline price spikes.
The most perverse aspect of the ethanol mandate is that it's supposed to help family farmers in the Corn Belt. But the reality is that the biggest beneficiaries will be a cartel of ethanol producers. In fact, eight companies control 71 percent of the ethanol market, according to the General Accounting Office. And one company, Archer Daniels Midland, controls 41 percent by itself.
Sen. Feinstein correctly characterized the ethanol mandate as "a wealth transfer of billions of dollars" from states like California and New York "to a handful of ethanol producers."
Too bad lawmakers in those states didn't see that coming when they blithely went along with the politically motivated, unscientific crusade to ban MTBE.
He is the traitor to the US's vital interests.
buzzyboop, could you site a reference indicating that MTBE is not a carcinagen? I am not aware of that research.
Gotta agree, it's great to see the Dems snipping at each other. Love it!
This is just another way of extorting money from consumers to benefit ADM and a few Congressmen. If the ethanol were any good for your vehicle, I might feel different. It turns into corn syrup if left in your vehicle undisturbed for any length of time. (My two motorcycle owner's manuals warn against its use.)
Sen. Feinstein correctly characterized the ethanol mandate as "a wealth transfer of billions of dollars" from states like California and New York "to a handful of ethanol producers."
Feinstein is RIGHT! Wait, that doesn't sound correct for some reason.
The writers "facts" about MTBE are entirely wrong. Also, its not oxygenates that are causing air to be cleaner, its the cleaner burning gasoline formulas introduced fifteen years ago, combined with cars that have cleaner emissions that are doing the job. I believe that the study the writer mentions was commissioned by the CA state legislature after they suppressed a previous study by U Cal Davis that found the opposite.
The air quality in major metro areas has been improving steadily for the past thirty years in nearly every major city.
Yeah, right. Like these two arseholes have never participated in enacting "Unconscionable, selfish and parochial" law.
The secret to solving that problem would be to drink lots and lots,,,,, sort of the "Keep it Moving" theory.
But environmental green-weenie laws that strangle American farmers, ranchers, and loggers are "broad-minded and visionary?" Just because California and New York are populous doesn't mean they can't be "provincial." And this is living proof that neither Feinswine nor Schemer give a tinker's damn about energy independence, domestic agriculture, or clean air.
Thanks to the Gallo Bros recycling of unsaleable fruit, the bums and winos of America are already, like Ted Kennedy, fueled by ethanol. Never forget, Granny, the last words of Julio Gallo:
"If worst comes to worst, our cheaper wine products can be made from cough...cough GRAPES!"
I tracked down the report (at least I think its the one referred to in the article). I browsed through the executive summary and, in particular, section 3.7 which deals with the topic of human cancer and MTBE.
What it actually says is that there is "no human data on which the carcinogenicity of MTBE can be based". However, it goes on to point out that, based on studies with rats and mice, that "MTBE is an animal carcinogen with potential to cause cancer in humans."
The statement in the posted article was taken out of context and is not a true representation of what this study concluded.
More MTBE can be put into gas without the gas separating into 2 layers. Ethanol is extremely bad in this respect. 10% is max, and at that level when just a little water from the air gets in, it separates. That behavior causes me much grief. Ethanol is blended at distribution point holding tanks, or at the station. That practice minimizes the risk of large amounts of the stuff separating.
Pipeline cos that move large amounts of fuel don't allow ethanol blends in their lines, because of this problem. The greens want to force it. Last I knew, this legislation had such a mandate to force the pipeline cos. to carry ethanol blends. Having spent way too much time already cleaning up the stinking mess of separated gas I can imagine the problems those guys would have with several million gals of that mess to clean up.
If I recall correctly, it was argued that you would get more fuel by directly processing the petroleum than you get by making ethanol.
If true, etahnol will make us MORE dependent on petroleum imports!
Does anyone else remember this? Can someone point me to the original study?
Combining the first two technologies, however, provides benefits that are little greater than using either alone, while imposing a larger fuel-economy hit than the sum of the two methods alone. In addition, using both of the earlier technologies togeher makes the computer-controlled fuel mix much less effective than it would be with either method alone.
There's 2 reasons for that. One is that if it's humid and you leave the gas in the tank too long, the gas sucks up water and it separates into 2 layers. Then you have a mess to clean up. The other is that elastomers for gasketing are either hydrophilic, hydrophobic, or flouropolymer. Hydrophilic, like neoprene is used for gas and petrol products. Hydrophobic, like butyl rubber, is used for ethanol, or water types. Butyl sucks up gas and is broken up by it. Ethanol does the same thing to neoprene.
Flouropolymers are like teflon, they are inert, but more expensive. They work with all fuels fine, but car and bike makers don't tend to use them.
Ethanol blends are also more conductive, so corrosion of carb metering passages is more of a problem, as is plugging from corrosion products.
Who are "they" and could you please cite a source for for this assertion?
What great info! I knew the stuff was junk. Thanks for the explanation.
They are the '70's EPA, API(Am Petroleum Institute) and every major refiner. A google search should bring up what your looking for, I have to take off now.
I'll bet that Schumer, Clinton, Boxer and Feinstein are now wishing they'd voted to open ANWR for drilling! No, wait, that would mean that they would have to give a rip about their constituents, wouldn't it?
Sorry, my bad.
I recall a quote that went something like; "American farmers grow crops in petroleum (i.e., fertilizer) not soil."
Obviously, I'm no expert!
On the other hand, it's encouraging to see the independent spirit alive and well in America. But that's never been missing in the Heartland.
Tanks!!
http://www.uhuh.com/reports/headsup/hu147.htm
"MORE HARM BY THE EPA"
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