Bureaucratic Ethanol Abuse

The below letter to the editor is by Robert "Bob" McDowell, Jr. He is a Professional Engineer and Geologist with over 50 years experience in creating drilling prospects, supervising drilling, well completion, production operation, and pipeline design for oil and gas including repair of problem wells. McDowell is a conservative and active in the Oklahoma Republican Assembly.
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Bob McDowell

By Bob McDowell: This last April 9 a story was carried in the Tulsa daily paper on the by-line of Michael J. Crumb of the Associated Press that was headlined "Program seeks to promote use of E-85". The second heading stated "The government wants to increase the fuel's production and install more pumps". Accompanying the story was a picture of an "E-85 fuel pump at a Citgo gas station in Southfield, Mich. Expanding use and production of the ethanol-based fuel is intended to help reduce U.S. reliance on foreign oil".

Nowhere in the body of the story does it say that Citgo is wholly owned by the Venezuelan Government, which is no friend of the U.S. but of the Castro Cuban and Chinese Communist governments, all of which hate the U.S. and miss no opportunity to verbally berate our way of life. Further, it should be remembered that the Government of Venezuela has seized the assets of U.S. companies which have developed the oil production in that country, including the recent seizing of equipment of service companies such as Halliburton and Helmerich & Payne of Tulsa.

The story also had a picture of Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, announcing plans to add 10,000 'flex-fuel' pumps to handle E-85 within the next five years. Of course, the station owners would be forced to pay for these very expensive pumps which would naturally increase the price of all fuel to we consumers. If you like fuel in the $3.50 and up today, you will positively love prices in the $7.00 range that would be likely if these goals of the Washington appointees and employees succeed in getting their way.

Beyond that, there is the fact of reduced performance and economy to be experienced by the use of Ethanol. In my own experience with older cars, the reduction in mileage is on the order of 20%. In addition, severe damage has been observed in the fuel lines and possibly in the engine itself. Probably no car or truck built before 2006 is capable of using fuel with any percentage of ethanol without experiencing damage. In fact, the manufacturers of piston aircraft engines have issued warnings that the use of fuel with any ethanol content will void the warranties on the engines. They deemed that necessary because there have been some FAA approvals given for the use of automobile fuel in lower power airplane engines, on an individual plane basis.

Up to now the percentage of ethanol in gasoline has not exceeded ten, but earlier this year there was a proposal to increase that to 15 (E-15) and now this bunch of 'dictators' admit that they are planning to force the use of 85% ethanol (E-85) down our fuel fillers. It appears to me that this is all tied in to the movement towards getting us out of our cars and into 'mass transit', such as light-rail, high speed trains, buses, and also one foot in front of the other. They are pushing toward future planning of tight, high density housing with shopping, entertainment, and work all within walking or biking distance and the mass-transit for transportation to other equally high density areas.

Such a development would serve their purposes of having more control over our everyday lives and actions with the resulting further loss of the reduced freedoms we now have. My opinion is that the use of any percentage of ethanol in fuel should be avoided. There are already a number of stations in the Tulsa Metro area that are either totally pure gasoline or have both available. It has been my experience that the added cost per gallon is very much offset by the improved mileage, performance, and probably life of the engine.

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) is to be very much applauded for his efforts to slow down or stop this abuse of power by the EPA, USDA, and other alphabetical departments, keep up the work, Jim!

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Tags: Bob McDowell, Oklahoma, Ethanol, gasoline, E-15, E-85, Tom Vilsack, U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, USDA, EPA, FAA, Citgo, Venezuelan, 'flex-fuel' pumps, Bureaucratic Abuse, Federal interference To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!