10 Louisiana Sportsman^ | April 2015
E
very now and then, amidst the partisan screaming and
yelling on Capitol Hill, a piece of legislation appears that
makes perfect sense.
I know that’s sometimes hard to believe, but a bill introduced
in U.S. Senate would end the corn ethanol mandate currently in
place — and Republicans and Democrats have reached across
the aisle to work together. Turn to page 42 to read more.
Ethanol just never really made sense to me. It’s not that I’m
against alternative fuels; in fact, I think finding true alterna-
tives to fossil fuels is a good thing. The key word there is “true,”
however.
Corn ethanol isn’t good for the environment, since it requires the
burning of fossil fuels to produce ethanol. Vehicles running etha-
nol also suffer from lower fuel efficiency. So, over the long haul,
more fossil fuel will be burned instead of less.
Corn ethanol isn’t good for world food supplies, since corn
prices have soared in response to a surge in demand and other
food crops have been traded out for corn to reap a financial
windfall.
Corn ethanol isn’t good for engines. Sure, we use blended fuels
in our cars and trucks without no problems — but that has a
lot to do with fuel turnover. In other words, we burn through
the fuel before it has time to separate and ruin our engines.
But those of us who use two-strokes and outboards risk
engine and fuel-line damage with the use of blended fuels.
Introducing alcohol (which is all ethanol is) into these system
can be like running putting paint thinner through the motor,
eating up fuel lines and internal gaskets. Not a good thing.
Why is it worse in these engines than our cars? You use your
boat once or twice a month, often leaving fuel in the tanks.
That provides ethanol time to separate from the gasoline.
Bad things happen after that.
The fact of the matter is that the corn ethanol mandate is
really only good for corn farmers, who benefit from the surge in
demand for their crops.
Now, don’t get me wrong: I support farmers. I grew up working
a ranch and small family farm.
But artificially inflating corn prices with a mandate for a
product that doesn’t accomplish the state purpose (helping the
environment) isn’t warranted or smart. The corn ethanol is the
perfect example of good intentions gone wrong.
And now even the politicians, who have to this point been
swayed by the strong ethanol lobby, are recognizing the need
to do away with the man-
date. We should let them
know we support this
commonsense move.
You can bet they’re
hearing from the ethanol
lobby. ■It’s time for
ethanol to go
Senate bill needs your support
first cast
Andy Crawford - EditorAndy Crawford
has spent most of his career
writing about Louisiana’s
outdoors. He can be reached at
[email protected].