© 2015 Michael Swickard, Ph.D. This last week I was moderator of a local
candidate forum. While we talked about taxes and how unfriendly the business
climate seems in my little slice of heaven, there was something else that makes
me see red every day.
While many people do not think of it
I am offended that I must buy ethanol in my gasoline. About five years ago the environmental
operatives in Santa Fe succeeded in forcing the adoption of ethanol laced
gasoline by everyone in New Mexico.
I have three major objections to
being forced to use E10 gasoline. First, the BTU (energy) content of E10 is not
as high as regular gasoline, so I surrender gas mileage. I already drive
carefully and under the speed limit to boost gas mileage. However, I do not
want to spend money foolishly. Also ethanol is very corrosive to older engines
and therefore causes older vehicles problems.
Second, the use of the food crop
corn to make fuel raises the price of corn-based food since the production of
corn for food competes with the federally subsidized ethanol production.
Farmers weigh the value of producing corn for food or for fuel where they get a
federal ethanol subsidy.
The reduction of corn in our food
chain increases the cost of food both for humans and for animal feed.
Increasing the cost of feeding animals results in higher animal-based food
costs to consumers.
Taxpayers subsidize the production
of ethanol, which in turn raises the cost of our food. While food cost is not a
problem for me, I do not want to spend the extra money needlessly. Importantly,
the escalating food costs are very problematic for fragile families worldwide.
More so, this artificial increase in
food prices have causes riots in Mexico and in other countries with large
populations who are mired in poverty, since the increase in food prices is very
real to those people and quite catastrophic. There is no reason their
corn-based food should increase in price.
And third, closer to home, New
Mexico uses its oil and gas industry to fund education. The use of E10 fuels
subtracts money from our schools because the ten percent of ethanol used in
gasoline is mainly produced in the “corn belt.” So ten percent of the money
that could go to schools is stolen by politicians.
I have no objection to E10 being
sold. Anyone who wants to drive with E10, or E85 for that matter, is free to do
so. My objection is that E10 is forced upon me with no chance to get gasoline
without ethanol.
While advocates claim ethanol is cleaner
burning I am not convinced it is critical when compared to the harm done to
food production and New Mexico schools. Plus, the production of ethanol has
many polluting compounds so we are just moving where pollution is occurring.
One advantage of being older is
having been through lots of things. In 1973 I suddenly found that the national
speed limit was politically being lowered in theory to save fuel. The 1974
Federal Emergency Highway Energy Conservation Act put the national speed limit
to fifty-five in some areas and in some states the top speed was limited to
fifty miles an hour.
For most of fifteen years the
national speed was fifty-five and it wasn't until the late 1980s that the speed
limit came up a bit and in 1995 the federal law establishing the speed limit
was repealed allowing each state to set its own limits.
This was not sold to the people, it
was imposed, much like having to buy gasoline that is ten percent ethanol is
imposed upon us rather than sold. Likewise if I wish to drive the double nickel
which is what the fifty-five mph limit was called, no one is stopping me. In
years past when ethanol was available but not exclusive, people could buy it or
not.
But I cannot find anyone even
talking about being forced to be fuelish and suffer the problems that ethanol
causes older engines. It is not pretty if you have an older vehicle. Let's not
send our money to the corn belt any longer. Send that money to our public
schools.
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