[Vwdiesel] Those anti-SUV ads

[Harmon Seaver]

On Mon, Jan 13, 2003 at 12:25:18AM -0600, dennis pantazis wrote:
> > > alternative fuel front:
> > > ethanol has stalled: hasn;t caught on, alcohols are environmentaly
> > > dangerous.
> >
>
> i may have misunderstood, but he seemed to emphasise the environmental
> hazards of alcohols getting into the water supplies as one of the main
> issues.

   I didn't hear that part, I guess, and didn't find much of what I did hear to
be anything new, at least to me. Anyway, it's the MTBE that's getting into water
supplies all over the place, which is why it's being banned. Ethanol is the
solution. There does seem to be a disinformation campaign being waged against
ethanol, however, and one of their "arguements" is the supposed "danger" of
ethanol spills. It's a crock. They are building an ethanol plant just a few
miles from me, and the disinfo that they were pushing was hilarious. One of the
main spokesman for the local anti-ethanol group didn't even know that ethanol is
what's in beer, wine, etc. I had a little discussion with him about it -- really
funny. Duh!
   I'm sure the disinfo about ethanol is being pushed by Big Oil. There's
another thread of disinfo about ethanol production being a net energy loss --
another crock. Even doing it from corn is a proven net gain, and corn is one of
the worst feedstocks for ethanol. All these anti-ethanol arguements are moot
anyway, all we have to do is look at Brazil where they fuel most of their
vehicles on ethanol. And no evidence of any problems with ethanol spill there.
   It's the same thing with biodiesel -- here in the US the big push is for
soybean based biodiesel which is another totally stupid idea. Both of these are
only because of all the subsidies paid to corn and soybean farmers which have
created these enormous surpluses. Cheaper to burn corn to heat your house than
any other fuel on the market -- what an absurd concept.
    It really would be a blessing if someone would nuke Washington and we could
start over.

--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com