Ethanol’s Greener than Gasoline; Get Over It!

This past week, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recognized that when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions, corn ethanol had a 21% advantage over conventional gasoline — even tasking into account the silly international indirect land use change theory. There are lots of other reasons to support corn ethanol, but that particular point is important because some folks just don’t get it. Or they want to ignore the facts.

Take this story from the Los Angeles Times:

 “A regional panel Thursday turned down nearly $11 million in federal stimulus dollars targeted to build 55 ethanol fueling stations across Southern California, saying it had policy concerns about ethanol as an alternative to gasoline. … Corn-based ethanol causes more harm than good for the environment because it has to be trucked from farms in the Midwest, said council members of the Southern California Assn. of Governments.”

One person told the council that told council members that “the project’s fuel, a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, would remove 27,000 tons of greenhouse gases from the air and eliminate the need for 700 million gallons of petroleum.” But a majority of the panel could not be swayed, the Times reported.

California is not a major corn state, and corn and/or ethanol would need to be transported from the Midwest, but even perhaps as close as Colorado. But as a California native, I’m not seeing a lot of interest in drilling for oil off the California coast. Fact is, the oil California needs is often shipped in from fields a lot further than America’s heartland.

The other scandal here is that federal funds were turned down in a state that needs all the budget help it can get.

And then there’s this story, from AAA New York, in a hit piece on higher ethanol blends that totally ignores the environmental impacts of gasoline: “Producing ethanol is an energy-intensive process that still results in greenhouse-gas emissions. It won’t save the planet as it still produces pollutants.”

The AAA piece accuses the EPA of making its upcoming decision on E-15 because of political pressure from the ethanol industry, but interestingly enough points out that “the oil industry cites concerns over potential engine damage.” How altruistic of them!

It’s time for AAA to jump in and support its membership over Big Oil. You can go here to tell them what you think with their online poll.

Or, you can go here to send them a letter.