Given the drought and the fact that 40% of the corn crop goes to ethanol production . . . .

[Stinky The Clown]

. . . . . do you think we should suspend - or even eliminate - the mandate to add ethanol to our gasoline?

In the short term, this comes down to food costs or fuel costs.

In the long term, do we really need this mandate? Is it actually helping with anything?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

1. I typically buy gasoline without ethanol additive.

Gets better gas milage

[1-Old-Man]

3. Where?

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

6. Very few stations carry it, but they do disclose any ethanol additives if you ask.

The place I go is, luckily, about 6 minutes from my house.
It's an Amoco station, but they usually carry several different blends.

It really depends on where the station owner gets their distribution supply.

[guardian]

2. No. Ethanol has been a total disaster.

It was pushed by global warming zealots and all it did was help starve millions of people in the third world by driving up food prices.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2430252/

http://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/1805835/new-un-report-slams-existing-biofuel-policies

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/23/al-gore-corn-ethanol-subsidies_n_787776.html

[AngryAmish]

4. I think the corn for food is different than corn for ethanol

Kinda like you can't eat feed corn.

I am open to being corrected on this since I am not an expert by any means.

Ethanol for fuel exists because Iowa is the first caucus state and nobody has the balls to tell them it sucks.

Ethanol in delicious beer, on the other hand, is awesome.

[meaculpa2011]

5. Ethanol production uses acreage...

that could and should be used for food cultivation.

The ethanol subsidy has been a complete, bi-partisan disaster.

[OneTenthofOnePercent]

7. You can eat feed corn.

The only real difference between feed/dent/field/deer corn and human corn is how it's washed and stored per cleanliness guilelines. There may be some difference in strain too, but none that make it unedible. I've eaten it... just grind it up into cornflour or grits and you're good to go.

Now is "ethanol corn" the same as field/feed corn? I don't know.