"Thom Stewart" wrote
It takes less than 35,000 BTUs of energy to turn corn into ethanol,
while the ethanol offers at least 77,000 BTUs of energy. Ethanol's
energy balance is clearly positive.

OK, but how many BTUs did it take to grow the corn? Don't forget the fuel to
plow, disk, plant and harvest the corn then the fuel for the silo heaters needed
to dry it for shipment then shipping costs to collect the corn and take it to
the distillery.

One faulty, outdated study shows ethanol's net energy balance to be
negative. That research uses fundamentally flawed, decades old data that
is not valid considering today's efficiencies in agriculture and in
ethanol production. brings the overall price down.

Let's see the numbers.

Removing ethanol from our nation's supply would mean we'd immediately
need to find 3% more fuel - that would cause dramatic spikes in fuel
prices.

I was told that back in the 1970s so I tried "gasahol" - 10% methanol. My cars
ran, albiet with less power, but I got almost exactly 10% less miles per gallon.
That says the alchohol wasn't burning at all, that it was just an expensive
filler, like mixing sawdust into hamburger. I used the first tank of the new
ethanol-blended gas last week and got 15MPG instead of the usual 18-20.

Ethanol's impact on air quality
Using ethanol-blended fuel has a positive impact on air quality. Ethanol
is an oxygenate, and that oxygen helps the fuel burn more cleanly and
more completely - a cleaner fuel for cleaner air.
Many areas of the country have used ethanol in order to meet EPA clean
air standards with great results. Ethanol reduces the emissions of
carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and toxic air emissions.

BS! Adding a small quantity any oxygenate to gasoline reduces the unburned
hydrocarbons, but raises the cost of the gas and reduces mileage. We could also
reduce unburned hydrocarbons plus improve mileage by raising compression ratios
again. But that'd cause more nitric acid in the air. And thats why the law says
engines must burn unleaded gas - because it forced manufacturers to lower
compression ratios. And that in turn necessitated expensive and now ubiquitous
catalitic converters and MTBE.

Ethanol is an American-made fuel that helps our country to be more
energy independent.

That's great! Now all we have to do is get EPA to require that all new cars
have 14:1 compression suitable for burning ethanol efficiently. Or course we'll
have watering eyes and rotting drapes but less hyrocarbons.

Otherwise, ........