Oilguy

That had to be a big black water tank! or he kept it full of "Fuel"..... I wonder if diet affected he fuel production or performance?

edwinsmith

You obviously haven't smelled my tank. My diet is cornflakes, pork sausage and eggs.

Edwin

dieselJon

You should see it out here, almost no soybeans. Everyone is going to corn cause of HIGH prices per bushel! I have seen some field in their 4th YEAR in corn. All because we have 2 new plants in 100 miles from here.

induchman

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/energy/ethanol.html

Ray Roton

http://www.humanevents.com/article.p...t=yes&id=21699

infidel

The new Soybean Rust disease is also a big factor.
Many growers started getting out of soybeans before the ethanol craze started.

cheese4420

Well let me start off by saying that I know a thing or two about a thing or two and my employment has absolutely nothing to do with oil or agriculture. I don’t have any fancy web links to follow but all of the information is easily obtainable on the net from CREDABLE sources and not some joker poker website.

Overview
Ethanol from corn = complete waste of time, money, and resources.
Ethanol from something like Switch grass = viable means to lessen the dependency on petroleum products.
Oil companies don’t make the majority of their money off gasoline and diesel.

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Corn is not the answer to ethanol but there are several native prairie grasses that require less fertilizer, less plowing, and yield greater potential energy per acre than corn could ever hope for. For those that don’t know, most corn stalks only produce two ears of corn. So you drive down the road and look at hundreds of acres of corn, stalks are over 6 feet tall, wow, that’s a lot of corn! Oh wait, that giant stalk only has two ears on it. Boy, what a let down. Shucks, I almost forgot, the ears of corn are almost a foot long. WHOA! That’s still a lot of wasted space. Think about all of the space in between each corn stalk, 4” maybe? Now think about the space between the rows, 18-24” (depending on till vs. no till). Now think about all of that space growing thick, dense grass 4 feet tall. NOW we’re talking about producing a product. Recap: Corn is good. Ethanol is good. Ethanol produced from corn is a waste of resources.

Read a little Wes Jackson and Wendell Barry and it will most likely revolutionize your perception of the earth and agriculture.

Now lets get on to the oil companies. I’ll keep this short and sweet. The last full refinery built in the United States from the ground up is the Mobil (now Exxon Mobil) refinery located in Joliet, Illinois 35 years ago. Since 1972, the number of refineries in the US has diminished and the demand for oil-based products has increased. Well you say, with all the big profits these companies are posting, why not build more? NOT IN MY BACKYARD! That’s all the oil companies hear. Also, out of all of the revenue that Exxon Mobil brought in during 2006 only 12% of that revenue came from the making, distribution, and sale of fuel related products. Why would ANY company want to invest in a division that only generates 12% of their revenue? They wouldn’t, so instead of fighting with the government and communities to build more refineries, they simply invest their money in more profitable areas they are involved in.

Hate on the oil companies all you want and listen to the politicians promise to “get to the bottom of the high fuel prices”. Then ask yourself, how much is enough? Do we want to be environmentally friendly or do we want to drive our big, fat, fuel guzzling, high horsepower vehicles? Don’t be naive; you WILL have to sacrifice in one of the areas.

ajg617

And this is a major reason why everyone is paying high prices at the pump. As a country, we are forced to import large quantities of refined gasoline (in addition to crude) in order to meet demand. This is directly related to the refining capacity of the U.S. (or lack thereof). While no new refineries are being built, many are being shut down. Anyone who has traveled the NJ Turnpike for the last 50 years can see that - nothing but storage tanks now with gasoline off-loaded from tankers. They all used to be refineries. In 1985 we didn't import gasoline. Last week, we averaged 858,000 barrels of gasoline imported EACH DAY. One in 10 gallons of gas sold at the pumps is imported and the U.S. burns 390 Million Gallons of gasoline per day. AND 45% of our current refining capacity is in the hurricane-vulnerable gulf coast precisely because nobody wants it in their back yard.

We prohibit exploration anywhere near this country for sources of new crude. Oil in the Gulf off of Florida, forget it even though it's in international waters. So who comes in and does it? Mexico. More imported oil for us. Can't explore in the Arctic? Nope, not there either. And this all eminates from the Exxon Valdez and the high dollar on-going litigation against Exxon. The oil companies want protection from the lawsuits (many of them shear idiocy, some valid) that will certainly arise from new exploration. Congress won't give it to them. Checkmate. Meanwhile we import 60% of crude refined in the U.S.

Imagine how much gas prices will go up if the litigants are ultimately awarded the $4.5 Billion plus interest they are seeking (approx. $7-10 Billion and Exxon grosses maybe $10 Billion a quarter). Amazing since the Valdez spilled 11 million gallons of crude. Just to give you an idea of how small an amount of oil that really is, in 1943, the U.S. alone lost over 130 tankers, most to enemy action. If half full, each tanker would hold maybe 3 Million gallons of oil. In one year then, the U.S. lost upwards of 400 Million Gallons of oil, much of that in the Gulf and East Coast without permanent damage to the environment.

Has ethanol reduced the amount of gasoline imports? No! 10% ethanol is replacing 11.4% MTBE. Until we are universally at 11.4% or higher ethanol, we will not reduce our dependence on foreign imports one iota. Further, since ethanol is more expensive to produce than mtbe, expect prices to go up some more as we continue to replace mtbe until more economical means of ethanol production are created. Finally, nobody can say with certainty whether or not there will be long-term hazards associated with increased ethanol usage. Congress is just now responding to the problem of mtbe polluting groundwater with carcinogens that it created in 1979 by requiring RFG.