The Problems with Ethanol

It all started from the best of intentions. It would reduce groundwater pollution becoming a substitute for a pesky carcinogen. It would make the air cleaner to breathe and life better to live. It would lesson our dependence on foreign oil, and the abundant U.S. corn crop could be partially diverted to its production.

The idea gained momentum from “green” conservationists focused on a purer environment and others who felt foreign oil dependence was an onerous burden of national security. And all this was accelerated by legislators rushing to judgement with federal mandates to hasten the change from mere fossil fuels to an alcohol blend from corn products.

So, since 2006, gasoline manufacturers have been blending in ethanol, a corn derivative, usually up to about 10%, but some now are adding more. Check your local gas pumps, and you’ll see the sticker indicating the percentage, if your state mandates such revelation at the pump that is.

But the cure is worse than the disease. Ethanol is so destructive to some engines, especially when the percentage creeps above 10%, that the FAA banned it for use in aircraft, and it is also discouraged for use in farming equipment. There would seem to be plenty of concern for other engines on the ground, but reality is slow to catch up to fantasy. Lawnmowers are stacking up at repair shops, and marine engines are leaving their owners sputtering as they do the same and even die on the water.

Ethanol is a solvent and water attractant, meaning some old stuff in the system breaks loose and clogs parts downstream in the engine. Ethanol’s love for moisture makes it collect water, and sludge in tank bottoms is sucked into engines. Worse, old fiberglass tanks are simply dissolved, which is especially serious in expensive older cabin cruisers that have these tanks molded into their hulls.

Further, the price of corn is up about $3 to $4 a bushel owing to the increased demand. This is pushing up the price of food prices since hundreds of products are derived from corn. This would seem to be a moral issue with extensive starvation stalking much of the world, an issue that I recall was raised when the corn ethanol rage began.

Did anyone think to consult God and ask His wisdom? Or are gasoline manufacturing, motor maintenance safety on the water, and tinkering with the global food supply simply too mundane for His attention?

James contrasted the sources of wisdom saying, “This wisdom does not descend from above, but is earthly, sensual, demonic. For where envy and self-seeking exist, confusion and every evil thing are there. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy. Now the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.” (James 3:15-18)

The source of all wisdom is not the clever human mind but God’s plentiful repository in Christ, “in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” (Colossians 2:3)

Today, massive plans for the restructuring of society and the world are being proposed by the U.S. government as well as others. Without God’s guidance, we will simply rush into more ethanol thickets—bramble patches that are hard to exit without serious wounds.

America’s national leaders who craft far-reaching and sometimes destructive legislation would do well to hear the words of Benjamin Franklin who exhorted his legislative fellows as they faced a political impasse at the Constitutional Convention in 1787:

“Have we now forgotten that powerful Friend? Or do we imagine we no longer need His assistance? I have lived, Sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing proofs I see of this truth – that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a sparrow cannot fall to the ground without His notice, is it probably that an empire can rise without His aid? We have been assured, Sir, in the Sacred Writings that, ‘except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build it.’”

Franklin then suggested that their sessions begin with prayer to solve their vast problems. They prayed, and God answered.

The need is no less serious today and the issues no less profound.

Dave Virkler