It's here: adulterated gasoline - "10 percent ethanol." Thankfully, our lawmakers are considering House Bill 187 to ensure that pumps selling ethanol-tainted gasoline are properly labeled, so we know when we are buying second-rate fuel.
Ethanol is an adulterant; a gallon of ethanol has the energy equivalent of only two-thirds a gallon of real gasoline. A 10 percent ethanol gasoline mix has 3 percent less energy than pure gasoline. This improvement promoted by the U.S. government has many harmful side effects. It will consume 40 percent of our corn crop this year, raising the prices of the many foods containing corn. The price of corn is up 25 percent this year already. Food inflation from high corn prices is having a worldwide effect with food riots seen in many countries.
Since ethanol is exempt from federal gasoline taxes, U.S. Rep. David Price tells me that the lost revenue was $5 billion in 2009 alone. But it gets worse: In 2007 Congress passed a law requiring we use four times as much "renewable" fuels for motor vehicles in 2022 as used in 2008. So far corn ethanol is the only such fuel available.
