Eisboch wrote:
Not OT, because boats use it too ......

(From Hemmings Motor News)

Environmental lawsuits block ethanol expansion
So let’s get this straight: Ethanol is supposed to be the gasoline
replacement that eases our oil imports and pays a dividend for the American
farmer, while at the same time yielding environmental benefits from a
cleaner, renewable fuel, right? So why are environmental groups around the
country suing to halt construction of ethanol-producing facilities? If you
haven’t learned by now that things that sound too good to be true are too
good to be true, I’d like to talk about how you can make millions selling
real estate without a single dollar down... but that’s another matter.

Now that the bloom is off the corn fuel, er, flower, some hard truths are
emerging. By now, you probably know about speculation and wild fluctuations
in grain futures, about pork-barrel projects, and about questions of how
much energy goes into ethanol production in the first place. What you may
not have heard about is the strain that the 140 or so existing ethanol
plants place on local infrastructure.

When US Envirofuels began the permitting process for Florida’s first ethanol
plant in Tampa, the city put their plans on hold when it emerged that the
facility would require 400,000 gallons of water per day to operate — far
more than the drought-stricken municipality can safely supply.

Tampa shouldn’t have been surprised, though. In Missouri, Gulfstream Bioflex
Energy’s plans to build a plant near Fordlands has run into a lawsuit by the
local Citizens for Groundwater Protection, over Gulfstream’s plans to draw
over 1.3 million gallons a day from the depleted Ozark aquifer. Missouri
water rights currently allow anyone to use as much as they desire.

Similar legal battles are being fought in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas
and Illinois. “Green,” it turns out, is a matter of perspective.
- By David Traver Adolphus



Eisboch

On Thu, 06 Mar 2008 20:20:49 -0500, BAR wrote:

Now that the bloom is off the corn fuel, er, flower, some hard truths are
emerging. By now, you probably know about speculation and wild fluctuations
in grain futures, about pork-barrel projects, and about questions of how
much energy goes into ethanol production in the first place. What you may
not have heard about is the strain that the 140 or so existing ethanol
plants place on local infrastructure.

It's called the Law of Unintended Consequences.

I blame Al Gore.

And Canada.

Just because I can.