I'll tell you what is true. Ethanol attracts and holds water. This can cause steel fuel lines and gas tanks to rust. Ethanol is a solvent and will go to work on built up varnish in gas tanks and fuel lines, causing it to break down, release and wind up in the fuel filter and/or in the carby or injector jets. Ethanol is also hard on certain seals in carburettors, dissolving them over time, particularly marine and aviation related engines. Some light aircraft use auto fuel. Auto fuel with ethanol is a no-no in aircraft because of the water attraction. If ethanol in fuel is holding water and the airplane flys at an altitude that is below freezing, hello frozen fuel lines, engine failure and a forced landing.
These are all in addition to lower gas mileage, higher food costs, etc. Ethanol is bad Ju-Ju no matter how you look at it. That's why CONgress mandated it's use.....
What causes that is bad fuel , when the petroleum based fuel already has water in it. When it's blended with ethanol, it causes that water to precipitate out of the fuel. So if anything, ethanol is a good- "bad gasoline" detector. If the gasoline is good when ethanol is blended, say e10, any water entering the fuel tank will be ABSORBED by the ethanol, PREVENTING fuel line freeze up. That's why you DON'T need gas line antifreeze when using e10. Plus you get an octane boost from e10, giving you BETTER gasoline performance.
HOWEVER, I wouldn't recommend burning e85 unless the engine has been extensively modified to burn alcohol properly, taking advantage of it's properties. otherwise, you will get poor efficiency and miss out on a tremendous power increase. E10-25 is perfectly fine for regular gas cars however.
Pure ethanol itself can absorb 60% it's volume of water and STILL burn, without water precipitating out.
In fact you drink ethanol blended with water in even higher ratio's than that.
have you EVER seen water precipitate out of your whiskey?
Ethanol cleans up dirty gasoline fuel systems. Always replace your fuel filter if you switch from gasoline to ethanol.
There need be no seals or gas tanks in todays engines that are not ethanol ready. If there are, you have a beef with the manufacturer. I often drive my car in Minnesota with Ethanol in it. Never a freeze up.
The additive Heet used to be sold to clean up dirty fuel systems and to remove water from the gasoline system. I believe it was an alcohol based product. It has gotten my car running many times years ago when the gasoline and water mix in my tank froze up.
Ethanol mileage is slightly lower that gasoline in some cars. So what? It is still made in America, not purchased from our enemies.