After months of careful and objective deliberation, weighing evidence from only the most knowledgeable and impartial scientists, environmentalists and industry leaders, the EPA has rendered judgement on the issue of ethanol blended gasoline. The short answer:
Screw you, little people.
The long answer:
”The agency has not found evidence to support a finding of severe ‘economic harm’ that would warrant granting a waiver of the Renewable Fuels Standard,” the EPA said Friday. …
“We recognize that this year’s drought has created hardship in some sectors of the economy, particularly for livestock producers,” said Gina McCarthy, the EPA’s top air regulator, in a statement. “But our extensive analysis makes clear that Congressional requirements for a waiver have not been met and that waiving the RFS will have little, if any, impact,” she said.
The ethanol industry applauded EPA’s decision.”
I guess nobody in the EPA has bought a steak lately. Prices have doubled in three years.
I guess nobody in the EPA has tried to start a chainsaw lately. Some 18 months ago when a tornado tore through Tuscaloosa and other parts of Alabama, 80 percent of the chainsaws I saw wouldn’t start. Fuel problems.
And you may not be aware that the EPA has already approved E15 (15 percent ethanol blend) for cars and trucks model year 2007 and newer. What’s truly absurd about the new E15 rules is that the EPA thinks it can protect your 2006 and older equipment by instituting a 4 gallon minimum rule for blender pumps. That way, if the user before you leaves the hose full of E15 you can dilute it sufficiently with E10 if you pump a minimum of four gallons.
Just one problem folks: most motorcycles only hold five gallons and anybody who’s ever ridden one knows when you get to a half tank you’d best fill up, lest you get stranded without. And even more vexing is the fact that most people use 2- or 2.5-gallon containers to fuel their lawnmowers and other portable power equipment. I once filled up a 5-gallon container and despite considerable use, couldn’t empty it in six months. By then, the gas had already gone bad — thanks in part to the E10 blend and the fact that no gasoline will remain viable after six months of storage, with or without ethanol.
If Mitt Romney would have come out against ethanol in fuel, maybe a lot more voters would have showed up for him. As it is, rich guys and Washington bureaucrats don’t have to worry about such things — only we poor schlubs out here in the sticks trying to make a living.
The Germans experimented with ethanol-blended fuel and quickly abandoned it. You also won’t find it in France, England, Italy, or Spain either. That’s because they live in democracies and have at least some control over their governments.
E15 proves that we have none.
