Gentlemen,
Ethanol is bulls##t. It is more than just a failure, it's a disaster. It unquestionably takes more energy to produce it than the product makes. In addition, because it soaks up water like a sponge, it cannot be shipped, as gasoline is, through energy efficient pipelines. To transport it, ethanol must be trucked, burning up even more energy. We have in this country, offshore and onshore, billions of barrels of oil known to be available and accessible. Environmentalists morons and uneducated Americans have successfully prevented our tapping this most efficient energy resource. Instead, these well-meaning but economically and environmentally ignorant individuals have us stripping millions of acres for farmland, using nitrogen and pesticides on a massive scale, consuming billions of barrels of water annually, driving the price of every food stock from tortillas to prime beef to all-time record highs, and consuming ungodly amounts of energy, both electricity and diesel, to produce corn so we can turn it into an unstable, inefficient, and the inferior motor fuel. In energy as in everything else, if it makes sense, the free marketplace will do it. We have over 300 million people in this nation all looking for a better way to do everything. We have 535 arrogant elitists in Washington with egos so large that they think the 300 million people have missed the obvious solution to energy independence that they in their infinite wisdom can clearly see even though none of them has any experience in the energy business. Because their solution makes no economic sense and is therefore guaranteed to lose massive amounts of money, they jam it down our throats by force of law, tax us to subsidize it, making the boondoggle mandatory. For every gallon of gasoline produced with 15% ethanol Congress takes $.50 per gallon from US taxpayers and gives it to ethanol producers. The cost of this 15% ethanol blend is higher than the gasoline price would be without the ethanol so those same US taxpayers must pay more per gallon at the pump. THEN, because this 15% ethanol blend gives poorer mileage in your car you must fill up more often, burn more fuel, create more air pollution, and spend even more. And to cap it all off, repair costs of your vehicle will generally be greater because of the more corrosive nature of this fuel. Oh, and don't forget the 30% more each month you're spending at the grocery store because of this witches brew.
Politicians love to talk about, "The failure of the marketplace". I'm not sure there ever has been a failure of the marketplace but if that does occur, it's very rare. The failures of government however, are the norm. Our government has shackled our oil and energy companies that have over 100 years of experience with laws that make it illegal for them to produce and sell us energy in the most efficient manner possible. This is as idiotic as it would be to let a class of third-grade public school kids mandate to the Honda Motor Co. what kind of cars it should build and how it should build and distribute them. Every US citizen is paying a heavy price for our having let this happen.
Chip
Owner/Operator
Team CB Petroleum Properties, LLC
