EPA ETHANOL INSANITY

On Jan. 21, the Environmental Protection Agency said a fuel blend of 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol could be used in all cars and light trucks manufactured between 2001 and 2006.  This expanded an EPA ruling in October which permitted the use of E15 in vehicles manufactured since 2007.

The EPA issued this ruling despite the fact its own research indicates expanded production of ethanol will hurt the environment.

Before the October ruling, the maximum blend allowed had been 10 percent ethanol.  Automakers have filed suit to overturn it.  They may be joined by ranchers, food companies, and some environmental groups.

In the United States, ethanol (ethyl alcohol) is made mostly from corn.  Its supporters say ethanol reduces our dependence on foreign oil, and makes the air cleaner.  But a 2005 study by Dr. David Pimentel of Cornell University and Dr. Tad Patsek of the University of California-Berkeley indicated that it takes 29 percent more energy to produce a gallon of corn-ethanol than the ethanol itself contains.

Since the energy required to produce ethanol comes chiefly from fossil fuels, ethanol increases, not reduces, our dependence on oil.  And, according to a study by Stanford University Prof. Mark Jacobson, it makes air pollution worse.

Burning ethanol puts less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than burning gasoline does.  But burning ethanol releases more of the pollutants that cause smog and endanger human health, Dr. Jacobson said.  A 2009 study at the University of Minnesota had a similar finding.

Runoff from farms in the Corn Belt is creating a "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico, say Friends of Earth.

"Research shows a strong correlation between the rise of corn ethanol production and the growth of the dead zone," wrote FOE’s Kate McMahon.  "This is because corn production, which requires massive amounts of fertilizers, has been expanding rapidly to meet the demands for ethanol."

An E15 blend will reduce gas mileage about 40 percent over pure gasoline, according to the Department of Energy.  And because ethanol currently costs more to produce than gasoline does, ethanol blends cost drivers more at the pump.

Older engines are built with parts that get brittle over time and cannot withstand the effects of alcohol.  When E10 gas is used, engine components can disintegrate and clog the engine with sludge and grime.  When this happens, the engine can’t be fixed.  It has to be replaced.

"Since the government forced ethanol use on the country, engine and fuel system failures caused by ethanol are causing major damage to more and more new and used vehicles," wrote automotive expert Ed Wallace in The Great Ethanol Scam.  "This means the hapless owners are not only paying for snake oil in lower fuel efficiency and more smog, but pay again when it damages their vehicles and lawn mowers."

The more corn we burn in our gas tanks, the less of it there is to feed people and animals.  Ranchers and the food industry oppose ethanol because diverting up to 40 per cent of the corn crop to it will send food prices soaring.

Potentially the most dangerous consequence of ethanol is its effect on our water supply.  It takes, on average, 3-4 gallons of water to produce a gallon of ethanol.  But Cornell’s Dr. Pimentel said that if you also count the water used to grow the corn from which the ethanol is made, then each gallon of ethanol requires 1,700 gallons of water.

In places where it rains a lot, this isn’t a big deal.  But most ethanol plants are in the Midwest, where groundwater is used.  The Ogallala Aquifier, which stretches from South Dakota to Texas, is being drained at an alarming rate.

190 years ago in 1821, a government surveyor described the Great Plains as "the Great American Desert," an area "almost wholly unfit for cultivation."

Stephen H. Long was wrong.  The Great Plains have been the breadbasket of the United States, and of much of the world.  But ethanol could prove him belatedly to be right.

Ethanol production is so harmful to the environment even one of its foremost supporters, former Vice President Al Gore, has said it should no longer be subsidized.

Despite all this, the lame duck Democrat Congress extended ethanol mandates and subsidies for another year.

"Sadly, when a truly bad idea is exposed today, Washington’s answer is to double down on the bet, mandate more of the same, and make the problem worse," Ed Wallace said two years ago.   Today, the EPA is doubling down yet again and making the problem doubly-doubly worse.

Jack Kelly is a former Marine and Green Beret and a former deputy assistant secretary of the Air Force in the Reagan administration. He is national security writer for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.