NO TO ETHANOL
In early December, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) held a hearing on a proposal to reduce the total number of gallons of corn ethanol that would be blended into gas in 2014. While this is a laudable effort, the EPA should do the right thing and eliminate the mandate requiring increased amounts of ethanol in gasoline. When Congress, in its infi nite wisdom (or lack thereof), passed the Renewable Fuel Source Act of 2007, it mandated that increased amounts of ethanol be blended into gasoline each year so that by 2022, 36 billion gallons of ethanol would be blended. The impetus for this legislation was a strong desire to make the United States more energy independent. Over the years, we’ve seen that increasing the amount of ethanol in gasoline is good for the farmers who grow corn, the ethanol producers who make ethanol, but not so good for anyone else, including boaters and the American consumer. The concept of growing corn for fuel instead of for food has never made either economic or environmental sense. As John McKnight, Director, Environmental and Safety Compliance, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, told the EPA group meeting, “It’s unacceptable to virtually everyone...unless you’re one of the corn people making money on it.”
Well, times have changed, and the fact is that at the beginning of 2014, the U.S. is the world’s largest producer of oil. Instead of depending on foreign countries for our oil, we are a net exporter. From a logical viewpoint, this dramatic change in our oil dependence means that we no longer need more ethanol. From an environmental standpoint, we need to return those millions of acres of grasslands that were set aside for ethanol into cornfields that will go to feed humans. To be honest with our readers, the reason for EPA’s reduction is not common sense, but rather because the corn producers can’t produce enough corn that can be turned into ethanol for blending in gasoline. In simple terms, now that the U.S. has become a net exporter, not importer of oil, the EPA can’t get enough ethanol to blend with the excess supply of gasoline expected in 2014.
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The VOICE of 4.3 Million Boaters
Although we applaud EPA for showing some common sense in its “proposed reduction of ethanol in gasoline,” the reality is that this is not good enough. EPA’s proposal does not go far enough because it does not get rid of ethanol mandates. As we noted earlier, when the law was originally passed in 2007, the motivation for increased amounts of ethanol was to reduce our energy dependence on foreign countries. In short, we wanted to be energy independent. When EPA fi rst proposed the Renewable Fuel Standard, it was seen as the best way in which the country could increase the amounts of ethanol in gasoline to increase our independence.
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