James Lutz: Governor LePage absolutely correct on ethanol (BDN)

Gov. Paul LePage is absolutely correct that gasoline blended with 15 percent or more ethanol is bad for the consumer and the environment, contrary to what Rick Santorum had to say in his July 18 OpEd.

In my opinion, the most important issue is that it ruins fuel systems and actually corrodes carburetors and fuel injectors. It eats seals and gaskets and is particularly detrimental to small two-cycle motors. The ethanol makes them almost unusable after only a year or two.

The second issue is that it takes more energy to make ethanol than it actually produces. To make ethanol, a mash of sugar and grain (corn) needs to be boiled down and then distill off the alcohol. Any idea how much energy that takes and where does it comes from? From natural gas and oil, for the most part. Is that green?

The third issue is the enormous subsidy given to the producers as well as the farmers growing the corn for this. The corn for this could be going to feed people, cattle, pigs and other livestock to drive down the cost of food, and the subsidy money could be saved or used to pay down the ridiculous deficit and debt we have.

This is just another example of the government picking winners and losers as they have in the wind and solar industries. Let the market work. Winners and losers should be able to sort themselves out by what the consumer wants, not the government.

James Lutz

Bangor

https://bangordailynews.com/2016/07/26/opinion/letters/wednesday-ju...

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Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on July 29, 2016 at 10:10am

I agree that government should not be picking winners and losers, but we that live in the real world know it is not government itself, but those within it whether elected or appointed or just hired in agencies. Relying on poor to bad or even false information at times or for the hidden from view rewards of cash, promotion or future position.

Education is another sore spot for me, to which I will reserve my comments for a different forum, along with medicines that are killing us as a species generation by generation. Having set aside my own retirement with the expectation of Medicare and Social Security not being available, I have opinions on those issues too. Thank God and my mothers wisdom I only need the Medicare portion now, since the advent of Obama Care. However I am forced to take Social Security to receive Medicare, which I would not have needed either without Obama Care.  

My first comment was sort of rhetorical for those (first time viewers of this Blog site) that would wonder why Ethanol a fossil fuel may be tied with the failings of Wind and Solar and a seemingly never ending needless increase in demand for poor to bad options over common sense solutions.

There are those Greenies that view this Blog, but just can not make the interconnect.  

Comment by Eskutassis on July 29, 2016 at 9:13am

Eric, read the last paragraph.  That is exactly how it relates to wind.  The government can not pick the winners and losers.  Look at all the failures they have propagated over the years from education to medicine, from energy to infrastructure, from medicare to social security.  Everything they take control of they manage into debt and deficit as they don't have shareholders to answer to.  Let the free market work.  If it did, wind would have died long ago.

Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on July 28, 2016 at 11:06am

I have to ask though, how this relates to wind energy.

In doing so, I feel that the objective is not to conserve energy, or lessen the CO² emissions into the atmosphere, as they are currently using fossil fuels for the heavy industrial energy needs though in other nations, hiding those facts as an out of sight out of mind situation of continuing the same ole same ole. 

The ultimate objective is to retain all the quality of what life offers them while they decry the ills, so that they may either use it or control it to dole it out for a higher profit or prolong it to maximize profits.

Meanwhile we sacrifice, in many ways, while they preserve certain areas of the world as National Parks and the like, which now charge fees that are soon to become cost prohibitive. (another reason that the proposed NP will limit access to common Mainers).

We are asked in rural and undeveloped areas in our New England states to sacrifice our land and its beauty, while endangering our wildlife and waters along with our health and peace of mind.

So long as they can talk people into something, there is usually and most likely a criminal element behind it, they preserve for themselves that which they deny us.

Though I must say, if done correctly, wind and solar are both good Ideas, so long as point of use generation is followed and conservation (minimal use devices) is used.

Look at how much Human Power could be generated if Those Gym Bicycles were hooked to a generator as the desired health was being achieved with sincerity, if hooked up to the now lowest power using lighting ever known since our creator provided us with the sun.

Look at how much energy we could save, if LOCAL needs were provided LOCALLY.  "Needs" not wants or desires............ 

Comment by Eskutassis on July 28, 2016 at 10:04am

I was happy to see that there was not one negative comment to the Letter, and all the usual trolls agreed with me.  

Comment by Eric A. Tuttle on July 28, 2016 at 9:04am

Given the facts as I laid out in a post earlier (average composite from a minimum of 3 sources) , replacing these parts of the destroyed or damaged engines that use it (ethanol) does that NOT require replacement parts that are created with those fossil fuels thus creating more pollutants. 



  • "Now this is a rather startling observation. If adding ethanol to our fuel does not contribute to energy independence, and it actually increases the emissions of what has become known as a greenhouse gas, then what on earth is the purpose of forcing American motorists to subsidize the producers and add this contaminant to our fuel? " 
  • Harry Wertheimer is a retired automotive engineer who lives in Salem, South Carolina.

 

Maine as Third World Country:

CMP Transmission Rate Skyrockets 19.6% Due to Wind Power

 

Click here to read how the Maine ratepayer has been sold down the river by the Angus King cabal.

Maine Center For Public Interest Reporting – Three Part Series: A CRITICAL LOOK AT MAINE’S WIND ACT

******** IF LINKS BELOW DON'T WORK, GOOGLE THEM*********

(excerpts) From Part 1 – On Maine’s Wind Law “Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine if the law’s goals were met." . – Maine Center for Public Interest Reporting, August 2010 https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/From Part 2 – On Wind and Oil Yet using wind energy doesn’t lower dependence on imported foreign oil. That’s because the majority of imported oil in Maine is used for heating and transportation. And switching our dependence from foreign oil to Maine-produced electricity isn’t likely to happen very soon, says Bartlett. “Right now, people can’t switch to electric cars and heating – if they did, we’d be in trouble.” So was one of the fundamental premises of the task force false, or at least misleading?" https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/wind-swept-task-force-set-the-rules/From Part 3 – On Wind-Required New Transmission Lines Finally, the building of enormous, high-voltage transmission lines that the regional electricity system operator says are required to move substantial amounts of wind power to markets south of Maine was never even discussed by the task force – an omission that Mills said will come to haunt the state.“If you try to put 2,500 or 3,000 megawatts in northern or eastern Maine – oh, my god, try to build the transmission!” said Mills. “It’s not just the towers, it’s the lines – that’s when I begin to think that the goal is a little farfetched.” https://www.pinetreewatchdog.org/flaws-in-bill-like-skating-with-dull-skates/

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Hannah Pingree on the Maine expedited wind law

Hannah Pingree - Director of Maine's Office of Innovation and the Future

"Once the committee passed the wind energy bill on to the full House and Senate, lawmakers there didn’t even debate it. They passed it unanimously and with no discussion. House Majority Leader Hannah Pingree, a Democrat from North Haven, says legislators probably didn’t know how many turbines would be constructed in Maine."

https://pinetreewatch.org/wind-power-bandwagon-hits-bumps-in-the-road-3/

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