Posted by
NOTLEGALROADKILLYET on Friday, February 16, 2007 12:19:55 PM
Today's Denver Post has a photo of Governor Bill Ritter pumping E85 into a GM demonstration vehicle while GM executive Al Weverstad looks on. He was promoting the announcement of the establishment of
E85 stations throughout Colorado.
On the surface, E85 sounds like a win-win situation for Colorado. But is it?
1. E85 cannot be pumped through pipelines because alcohol absorbs water making the fuel useless. It must be transported by fuel tanker. If Colorado were to become a big consumer of E85, you could expect to see hundreds of fuel tankers on the interstate shipping the stuff in.
2. Without irrigation, Colorado would not be a corn producing state. Ethanol made from corn requires a lot of water for its manufacture. Coloradoans need to understand that Governor Ritter is allocating scarce Colorado water in ways that may not be wise, or even sustainable in the long term.
3. The price of corn has doubled in the last two years because so much is being used in ethanol production. That's great for corn growers, but not so good for cattle producers. If you are looking forward to paying $5 a pound for hamburger, you probably don't have long to wait.
Before Ritter and his environmental buddies do all of these feel good things, they need to do an environmental impact study of their own. The impact on roads, water, and wallets isn't all that positive. But they will feel good.