Pulling into my favorite filling station near Sugar Mill, I noticed a big sticker on the gas pump that said less than 10 percent ethanol.
The proprietor of the station informed me that there was no ethanol in the gas yet but in a month there would be. The next thing I did was to call Bob of Bob’s Automotive and ask if using ethanol would hurt my car. His answer was that unless my car is designed to use ethanol the ethanol will cause excessive wear on the engine.
The lower octane may even cause the engine to ping. Therefore I should avoid using ethanol till I get a car that is designed to use it.
If this doesn’t anger motorists nothing will. This is especially true since there is absolutely no legitimate reason to use ethanol. In fact there is a long list of good reasons why Ethanol should not be used as a fuel. Following information supplied by leading economist ,Walter E. Williams, ethanol must be subsidized with your tax money by an amount between $1.05 and $1.38 a gallon.
Any claims made for the environment or saving petroleum are completely wiped out by the fact that it takes about a gallon of ordinary fuel to supply a gallon of ethanol which contains 20 to 30 percent less energy than the ordinary fuel used in the farming process to make it.
On top of all this the use of grains to make ethanol is pushing up food prices right here in New Smyrna as well as around the world. This is causing real consumer pain right here in at home and serious hardship in third world countries.
In view of these facts, we ask "why are we being forced to use ethanol?"
The answer is that big agribusiness such as Archer Daniels Midland have bribed our legislative leaders to pass laws mandating the use of ethanol and also to pass laws providing for subsidies to support the use of ethanol. Naturally they don’t use the word bribe. Its’ called campaign contributions and supporting our farmers.
If you are looking for villains in this scam start with big agribusiness and the shameless politicians who are accepting their bribes. Finally you might look at yourself for not raising a big fuss.