Ethanol Controversy

Over the past few years, Americans have been educated over the controversy of ethanol. Any advancement in renewable fuels will only benefit society in the years to come whether you choose to believe that or not. I am here to tell you not to believe those myths that blame ethanol for today’s problems such as starving children in Africa, the poor economy, and/or higher gas prices with lower mileage. If America shut down all their ethanol plants, there would still be starving children in Africa. Chris Thorne, public affairs director at Growth Energy, has put together the following list of information to show that ethanol truly benefits society.

• Ethanol is a good investment for U.S. taxpayers; in 2010, the ethanol industry reduced farm payments by $10.1 billion and generated $8.6 billion in federal tax revenues.
• Ethanol is historically the cheapest motor fuel on the planet, and without it gas would cost consumers at least 25 cents more per gallon, according to a 2011 study from Iowa State University.
• Recently NASCAR issued a white paper report saying that E15 has been used for over 1,000,000 competition miles without any incident, and its use increased horsepower and made little impact on mileage.
• Ethanol blends have been exhaustively tested by the EPA, more so than any previous fuel. Also, ethanol can actually help your engine run cleaner, because it replaced some of the more harmful additives in gasoline.
• Organizations like the American Lung Association of Minnesota advocate for ethanol as a tool for eliminating smog and respiratory illnesses. Grain ethanol decreases greenhouse gas emissions by 59 percent compared to gasoline, and cellulosic ethanol is expected to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by as much as 100 percent.
• The real costs of putting food on the shelf are transportation, processing and packaging – all costs driven by oil. One-third of every bushel of corn used is returned to the food chain in the form of highly valued, nutritious animal feed – distillers grains.
• Academic, government and third party research papers single out rampant Wall Street speculators, high oil prices and the high costs of manufacturing, packaging and transporting groceries as the major drivers of increasing commodity prices and grocery store bills.
• Grain ethanol is here today displacing foreign oil, creating jobs and lowering harmful emissions.

Now, that you are more informed on ethanol, we need you to educate all those misinformed individuals that ethanol really is a good thing.