ethanol debate

ethanol, what a wonderful product for our farmers. the annual profit is outstanding for most involved. the science behind it is not all that difficult. so why in God's name does the state legislature think that raising the required amount of ethanol in gasoline in minnesota to 20% is a good thing?

with the winter comes an additional amount of alcohol/ethanol in our gasoline to begin with. this increases the freezing point of our gasoline so that our fuel lines do not freeze up. however, this also wreaks havoc on the parts of our car. decreased engine performance due to the smaller amount of energy stored in ethanol is just the beginning and least important of the stakes involved. corrosion of the fuel lines as well as sticky injectors can cause a terrible mess that may continually cost the owner of the vehicle stress and money. and this only happens in the minnesota winters. if the requirement in this state is raised to 20%, the real economic benefit goes to the car dealerships and shops. yes, farmers will have more ethanol to put out and cash in on, but i would put my money into AC Delco and MOPAR. besides decreasing our dependence on foreign oil, there is little or no benefit in the long run to us locally. we must put our money to science to develop other means to fuel our petro-guzzling country. the government shouldn't legislate what they don't understand. any legislator who votes for this will not be getting my vote in the next election, because if it passes, i think i'll probably have a hard time driving to the poll in the first place.