HotRodZilla
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Man...I hope I'm not stirring up a hornet's nest here. Especially since it's cold outside and riding for some has become limited; therby, increasing their time and delicate sensabilities here.
I am posting this for only ONE reason: I really dislike Ethanol in my fuel and am hoping it goes away. This dislike has been increased as I have dealt with Ethanol related issues regarding chainsaws, and equipment. I recently found a couple places in Albuquerque that sell non-Ethanol fuel and rectently started running that in the FJR. I don't really feel a difference yet, but maybe just not putting that crap in my bike won't break something that is not already broken. I have also burned less than 2 tanks.
At one of the service centers for chainsaws here in Albuquerque, those guys are anti-Ethanol, almost to a religious fault. Standing at the counter, a customer can't miss the huge signs detailing the damage Ethanol does to small engines in lawnmowers, chainsaws, go-carts, generators, etc...They have interior engine parts and seals displayed that look like they are 100 years old, and claim the damage is caused due to Ethanol. While that may not be 100% true, as I'm sure some of that was also due to lack of use, or maintenance, it does not change the fact that this stuff is a pain in our collective butt. Especially those that run older dirt bike engines, quad engines and the like. If someone rents one of their gasoline powered pieces of equipment, like a log splitter, that person has to buy fuel from them, because it has no Ethanol in it and they don't want that stuff in thier equipment.
So, I am posting the article I found in our paper today that originated in The Associated Press. The article is political, which you'll understand once you read it. However, I am hoping this thread does not become a political soap-box. I searched other "Ethanol related" threads here and found three pages of them, but none was close enough to just paste this and zombiefie it. I did find one regarding a petition to ask for more Ethanol-free fuel, and maybe now is a good time to bring that back up.
Iowans Worry About Ethanol's Lost Political Clout
ALTOONA, Iowa November 24, 2013 (AP)
By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press
For decades, presidential candidates' chances in Iowa were wounded if not doomed unless they backed federal support for ethanol, a boon to the state's corn-growing economy.
That rule of politics collapsed resoundingly in the 2012 campaign when five of the six top Republican candidates said it was time for such intervention in the private market to end.
Now, Iowa's senior political leaders are pondering how to shore up political support for the corn-based fuel at a time when its economic and environmental benefits are under attack .
The latest blow came this month, when the Obama administration proposed cutting the required amount of ethanol in the nation's fuel supply for the first time since Congress established a standard in 2007.
The state's leading Republicans and Democrats hope they can still use Iowa's political importance as a swing-voting state and as the site of the first presidential nominating contest to get candidates to support keeping the requirement, or at least part of it, in place.
But the case has become a tough sell for Republicans as the party has moved to the right and become increasingly hostile to government programs and directives.
Even among Democrats, concern has grown about ethanol's role in rising food prices and in cultivation of land that had been used for conservation.
The recent boom in domestic oil production has also made ethanol less prized as a U.S.-produced fuel that limits dependence on foreign oil. The grain alcohol burns cleaner than gasoline but produces less energy.
"I think there are some that feel it's potentially safer now to be lukewarm at least, or not supportive of it," said Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, a Republican. "I think it's yet to be seen if that's a smart political position."
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said he hopes to thwart the administration's proposal in Congress if it survives the 60-day comment period.
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad planned to press his fellow GOP governors, especially those with possible presidential aspirations, to be mindful of the ethanol industry's economic importance. He met with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at a governors' association meeting in Arizona this week. On Tuesday, Branstad launched a Website for people to leave comments for the EPA.
For politicians eying the White House, "Whoever comes here better understand the importance of renewable fuels, or they are going to have hell to pay in rural Iowa," Branstad said in a recent interview.
The federal government began actively supporting ethanol, which is made by fermenting and distilling corn, about 40 years ago when petroleum prices spiked and anti-air pollution efforts were ramping up. Refineries initially were given a tax credit to produce the grain alcohol and Congress later required oil companies to blend it in their gasoline.
In Iowa, the nation's leading corn producer, about 45 percent of its crop went into ethanol last year. The state has 42 ethanol plants that produced 3.8 billion gallons.
Branstad said cutting the federal requirement would lower corn prices that have already fallen this year because of an unexpectedly robust harvest.
"They're making a huge mistake," Branstad said at the governors conference this week. "And they're going to drive corn below the cost of production."
I am posting this for only ONE reason: I really dislike Ethanol in my fuel and am hoping it goes away. This dislike has been increased as I have dealt with Ethanol related issues regarding chainsaws, and equipment. I recently found a couple places in Albuquerque that sell non-Ethanol fuel and rectently started running that in the FJR. I don't really feel a difference yet, but maybe just not putting that crap in my bike won't break something that is not already broken. I have also burned less than 2 tanks.
At one of the service centers for chainsaws here in Albuquerque, those guys are anti-Ethanol, almost to a religious fault. Standing at the counter, a customer can't miss the huge signs detailing the damage Ethanol does to small engines in lawnmowers, chainsaws, go-carts, generators, etc...They have interior engine parts and seals displayed that look like they are 100 years old, and claim the damage is caused due to Ethanol. While that may not be 100% true, as I'm sure some of that was also due to lack of use, or maintenance, it does not change the fact that this stuff is a pain in our collective butt. Especially those that run older dirt bike engines, quad engines and the like. If someone rents one of their gasoline powered pieces of equipment, like a log splitter, that person has to buy fuel from them, because it has no Ethanol in it and they don't want that stuff in thier equipment.
So, I am posting the article I found in our paper today that originated in The Associated Press. The article is political, which you'll understand once you read it. However, I am hoping this thread does not become a political soap-box. I searched other "Ethanol related" threads here and found three pages of them, but none was close enough to just paste this and zombiefie it. I did find one regarding a petition to ask for more Ethanol-free fuel, and maybe now is a good time to bring that back up.
Iowans Worry About Ethanol's Lost Political Clout
ALTOONA, Iowa November 24, 2013 (AP)
By THOMAS BEAUMONT Associated Press
For decades, presidential candidates' chances in Iowa were wounded if not doomed unless they backed federal support for ethanol, a boon to the state's corn-growing economy.
That rule of politics collapsed resoundingly in the 2012 campaign when five of the six top Republican candidates said it was time for such intervention in the private market to end.
Now, Iowa's senior political leaders are pondering how to shore up political support for the corn-based fuel at a time when its economic and environmental benefits are under attack .
The latest blow came this month, when the Obama administration proposed cutting the required amount of ethanol in the nation's fuel supply for the first time since Congress established a standard in 2007.
The state's leading Republicans and Democrats hope they can still use Iowa's political importance as a swing-voting state and as the site of the first presidential nominating contest to get candidates to support keeping the requirement, or at least part of it, in place.
But the case has become a tough sell for Republicans as the party has moved to the right and become increasingly hostile to government programs and directives.
Even among Democrats, concern has grown about ethanol's role in rising food prices and in cultivation of land that had been used for conservation.
The recent boom in domestic oil production has also made ethanol less prized as a U.S.-produced fuel that limits dependence on foreign oil. The grain alcohol burns cleaner than gasoline but produces less energy.
"I think there are some that feel it's potentially safer now to be lukewarm at least, or not supportive of it," said Iowa's Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey, a Republican. "I think it's yet to be seen if that's a smart political position."
U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley of Iowa said he hopes to thwart the administration's proposal in Congress if it survives the 60-day comment period.
Meanwhile, Republican Gov. Terry Branstad planned to press his fellow GOP governors, especially those with possible presidential aspirations, to be mindful of the ethanol industry's economic importance. He met with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at a governors' association meeting in Arizona this week. On Tuesday, Branstad launched a Website for people to leave comments for the EPA.
For politicians eying the White House, "Whoever comes here better understand the importance of renewable fuels, or they are going to have hell to pay in rural Iowa," Branstad said in a recent interview.
The federal government began actively supporting ethanol, which is made by fermenting and distilling corn, about 40 years ago when petroleum prices spiked and anti-air pollution efforts were ramping up. Refineries initially were given a tax credit to produce the grain alcohol and Congress later required oil companies to blend it in their gasoline.
In Iowa, the nation's leading corn producer, about 45 percent of its crop went into ethanol last year. The state has 42 ethanol plants that produced 3.8 billion gallons.
Branstad said cutting the federal requirement would lower corn prices that have already fallen this year because of an unexpectedly robust harvest.
"They're making a huge mistake," Branstad said at the governors conference this week. "And they're going to drive corn below the cost of production."
