A snowmobiler, a
conservationist and a chicken farmer walk into the EPA. Unfortunately for the
ethanol lobby, this one doesn’t end with a punchline. It's a typical day in the
fight to reform ethanol mandates, a policy broken in so many different ways that
people who don't agree on much are finding common ground.
Scroll down to learn more about the kinds
of people who are calling for reform and see the logos below to get to know our
partners.
The unworkable nature of the ethanol
mandate is a raw deal for consumers, risking higher gas prices, lower fuel
economy and warranty-voiding engine damage.
Ethanol is a highly corrosive product that can cause
damage in most engines when used in concentrations higher than 10 percent.
That’s why gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol (E10) is the only fuel blend
approved by the EPA for use in all vehicles, motorcycles, boats and power
equipment. Higher ethanol blends can cause a litany of problems for engines not
designed to run on the fuel, including unintentional clutch engagement, rubber
swelling and metal corrosion. Even worse: many auto warranties will not
cover damage from the use of higher ethanol blends, leaving consumers out of
luck.
And that's not all–because ethanol contains a third less
energy than regular gasoline, gallon-for-gallon, ethanol in your tank means
more trips to the pump. In 2011, ethanol's energy shortcomings added about 10
cents per gallon to the cost of U.S. gasoline.
"So far, [ethanol mandates have] only succeeded in
distorting markets and propping up the ethanol industry at the expense of
refiners, retailers, motorists and taxpayers. It’s time Big Ethanol gave up its
special treatment and played fair."
Supporters of ethanol mandates claim that growing corn for
fuel helps the environment. But if that's true, why are numerous environmental
and conservation groups, academics, and scientists calling for reform? Study
after study has proven that ethanol mandates are not only not helping
the environment, they are making things worse–plowing over conservation land
for cornfields, polluting waterways, and actually increasing emissions.
"Few anticipated that the ethanol mandate would drive
up the price of corn so much that farmers would plow up more than 8 million
acres of wetlands and grasslands in order to make more money selling corn. That
conversion of uncultivated land to grow corn has been releasing between 85
million and 236 million metric tons of carbon a year."
Ethanol mandates require refiners to blend
impossible amounts of ethanol into gasoline — amounts that the current gasoline
supply cannot safely accommodate. Yet, if refiners do not somehow meet their
targets, the agency can fine them up to $32,500 per day for non-compliance.
In order to comply with the government, refiners may soon
be forced to put an amount of ethanol into fuel that could damage up to 90
percent of cars on the road today, or risk spikes in gas prices – a point known
as "hitting the blend wall."
"The U.S. is dangerously close to exceeding the amount
of ethanol that can be safely blended into our gasoline supply…refiners find
themselves between a rock and a hard place. They must either blend unsafe
amounts of ethanol into U.S. gasoline or buy costly compliance credits that
could threaten to raise gas prices, put them out of business and risk thousands
of jobs."
Ethanol mandates increase the price of corn — a staple
ingredient in 75 percent of all grocery items — leading to higher food prices
for restaurants and consumers alike.
What's
more, corn makes up more than 95 percent of all U.S. animal feed, which means
that as ethanol mandates raise corn prices, livestock farmers have to cope with
higher feed prices. This has led to higher prices of food items like meat and
dairy as well as the closing of more than 60,000 pork, poultry, and beef
operations since 2007.
"The cost of corn to feed cattle is a huge part of why
dairy farms have closed."
America is the world’s top corn
producer and third biggest exporter; therefore, a rise in U.S.corn prices
brought on by ethanol mandates, which convert large amounts of corn into fuel
instead of food, increases the cost of food globally, disproportionately hurting
the poorest among us at home and abroad.
Foreign and domestic food assistance programs — like the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), child nutrition programs and
international food aid — become more expensive and less effective due to rising
food prices.
"From 2006 to 2011, ethanol-related corn price
increases cost all corn-importing countries $11.6 billion. Developing nations
bore around 57 percent of the burden, or $6.6 billion. "
http://smarterfuelfuture.org/thank-you
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