problem with ethanol and fiberglass tanks. starts about halfway through the article below
Posted on Thu, Jun. 01, 2006
Wheels
Washington’s Pander Bears
They look a lot more adorable than they are.
By Ed Wallace
Special to the Star-Telegram
“Sooner or later, because gasoline storage tanks either are older or are not properly maintained, the higher concentrations of stratified, or insufficiently mixed, ethanol will eat through their walls.
Forgive me if I sometimes seem apathetic about issues that seem important to you, but too much of the controversies thrown our way appear to be mere diversions. In fact, the debate is visibly shifted away from what’s important to the average American, replaced with flag words — emotional hot buttons pushed solely to redirect our attention from issues that require real answers.
Illegal immigration? Been going on for decades.
I’d rather consider Russia’s recent announcement that its central bank will reduce and diversify the country’s currency reserves out of American dollars into Euros, and note its timing — the same week our Treasury Department issued warnings on sales of our 10-year bonds. Ask me whether I think we’ll have to defend our currency and twin deficits with higher interest rates, and if those rates go up suddenly, how this will affect you and our automakers and consumers.
No, don’t; higher oil prices continue to be a factor in the health of our economy, so that’s a higher priority. Yes, I think the wellbeing of our friends and local businesses is a more important worry than some obscure issue of morality in some other state. That said, though, emotions can cloud anyone’s judgment sometimes.
A week ago I fell victim to personal prejudice when I realized that in 2008 we might well have a chance to elect the first female President of the United States. Hillary appears to be running. No, I don’t know that to be a fact — but all the signs are there. And this politician is already courting both the Democrats and Republicans.
Quick-change or Compromise?
Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp and Fox, is hosting a fundraiser for her. She’s already declared her sympathy for the plight of unions and blue-collar workers in America, while at the same time she’s stated that she would not support burdening Detroit with higher fuel-mileage requirements. At a recent luncheon speech, Clinton stated, “I am a passionate believer that we’ve got to enable our three automakers to survive. It’s one in every 10 jobs in America.”
Bob Lutz, GM’s vice chairman, recently told the New York Times, “I’m a lifelong Republican, by the way. But next time around, Hillary, here I come. I’m a protest vote.”
Lutz did say he’d made that statement semi-tongue-in-cheek; but, when pressed by the Detroit News on May 26, he said, “There is no question that Mrs. Clinton is a highly experienced and intelligent leader with the will to address some of the nation’s competitiveness issues.”
Three days earlier Senator Clinton had said she now supports cutting our dependence on imported oil by at least half before the year 2025, replacing it with the old home-grown “miracle solution,” ethanol. (She said that the day after GM and Ford issued warnings to their customers not to use E85 ethanol in their non-E85 vehicles — or risk serious damage to their engines and fuel systems — on the heels of an expensive ad campaign selling the nation on E85.)
Just last year Clinton voted against the plan to double the amount of ethanol mandated in our national fuel supply. Now she says she was wrong, and maybe we should double the currently mandated percentage.
My favorite quote on her about-face came from Republican National Committee spokesperson Tracey Schmitt: “The fact that Clinton now conveniently supports what she adamantly opposed is indicative of priorities long on politics and short on principle.” Really? If so, Hillary is not alone. Over the last 13 years first the Democrats were the champions of ethanol and most Republicans were against it. Then the Republicans were all for it and the Democrats were the holdup. And now it appears that this destructive game’s sides are ready to switch again.
That’s when it hit me, during election years, we are constantly entertained by Washington’s Pander Bears.
Houston, We Have a Problem.
Hillary’s flip-flopping aside, let me be the first to inform you of the next act in the ethanol tragedy; the story may break tomorrow or three years out, but it’s coming.
Recently the Boat Owners Association of the United States issued a warning to owners of older, expensive boats, after numerous members reported ruined engines with “black gunk sludging their intake valves.” The culprit is E10 gasoline, the same thing we are now using in the Metroplex; it’s melting away parts of their fiberglass fuel tanks — and the resulting gunk is clogging their fuel filters and fuel lines and ultimately destroying some very expensive motors. That’s when it occurred to me: a whole lot of gas stations have fiberglass storage tanks.
Sure enough, the American Coalition for Ethanol’s Web site even carries a warning for gas station operators on the use of the E85 blend: “However, fiberglass storage tanks manufactured prior to 1992 MAY NOT be able to handle E85.” You see the obvious contradiction; boat owners using fuel containing just 10 percent ethanol are already reporting melted fiberglass storage tanks and ruined engines — but the American Coalition for Ethanol claims that problems with fiberglass tanks come only from using 85 percent ethanol blends.
That sent me to the Fiberglass Tank & Pipe Institute, which also spells out warnings on using or storing ethanol in older tanks, although their concern seems lukewarm at most; they suggest that with proper tank maintenance there might not be a problem at all. But then, on the FTPI Web page marked “Ethanol and USTs,” this bombshell pretty much explodes that optimism: “Ethyl alcohol, because of its affinity for water, is not blended into gasoline until it is loaded into the delivery tank truck.”
American Petroleum Institute member companies address the need to control the ethanol blend component in API RP 1626, which states, “In-truck blending is not recommended since complete blending may not occur. Thus, splash-blending ethanol is not recommended since the ethyl/gasoline components tend to stratify and remain stratified after delivery to the refueling facility. Thus, the pump may pick up a high concentration of stratified ethyl alcohol, damage the automobile engine and not be covered under warranty.”
Let’s see: Owners of older boats have already filled their fiberglass gas tanks with E10 gasoline and watched them go away. One ethanol lobbying group states that an 85 percent ethanol blend could melt fiberglass storage tanks. The Fiberglass Tank & Pipe Institute claims tanks built before 1992 “could” have a problem with ethanol blends, but then spins around and says that the way we are delivering ethanol to local stations does an inadequate job of blending ethanol. Therefore, high concentrations of “stratified” ethanol are stored in fiberglass gas tanks and pumped into your automobile’s fuel system. And, because the ethanol doesn’t fully blend, parts of the fiberglass storage tanks are holding concentrations of ethanol much higher than 10 percent — which everyone recognizes means trouble on older tanks.
It’s a ticking time bomb, just like MTBE: Sooner or later, because gasoline storage tanks either are older or are not properly maintained, the higher concentrations of stratified, or insufficiently mixed, ethanol could eat through their walls. Next thing you know, subsoil gasoline plumes will invade local neighborhoods … and the water supply. In case you didn’t know, benzene is not good for St. Augustine grass — or children. This is what Hillary wants more of? For that matter, this is what Congress mandated last year?
“American Idol” is Bigger News?
Unlike in most weeks, positive energy stories surfaced and sank without remark. At 3:10 on the morning of May 25, a 576-mile-long oil pipeline began delivering crude oil from Kazakhstan directly into China. It’s the first such pipeline in their history, but by the end of this year it will supply 15 percent of China’s energy needs. That gives some relief to other nations that must import oil.
The very next day Exxon purchased 2.2 million barrels of Azeri Light Crude, marking the official opening of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. That $4 billion project has reached its destination in Western Turkey; once fully operational it will give the Western world another 1 million barrels of high-quality oil a day.
ConocoPhillips and France’s Total signed separate agreements with Saudi Aramco for two new oil refineries in the Kingdom, which will turn that country’s sour grades of oil into gasoline for export.
Yes, one group is still posturing over the snake oil it claims will end our dependence on foreign oil; other countries and oil companies are actually doing something to increase production, which in time will lower prices. I guess about the time we get our first real news on the gasoline leaks in older storage tanks and blown engines in older cars, the price of oil and gas will fall. That event will mark the end of the fourth act of corn-grown ethanol’s false hope.
It’s perverse, I know, but I hope it all happens in the 90 days before the next presidential elections, so we can watch both candidates squirm and perform even more incredible flip-flops. After all, that’s what Pander Bears do.
Ed Wallace is a recipient of the Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, given by the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. He reviews new cars every Friday morning at 7:15 on Fox Four’s Good Day and hosts the talk show Wheels Saturdays from 8:00 to 1:00 on 570 KLIF. E-mail: ed-wallace@charter.net
Posted on Thu, Jun. 01, 2006
Wheels
Washington’s Pander Bears
They look a lot more adorable than they are.
By Ed Wallace
Special to the Star-Telegram
“Sooner or later, because gasoline storage tanks either are older or are not properly maintained, the higher concentrations of stratified, or insufficiently mixed, ethanol will eat through their walls.
Forgive me if I sometimes seem apathetic about issues that seem important to you, but too much of the controversies thrown our way appear to be mere diversions. In fact, the debate is visibly shifted away from what’s important to the average American, replaced with flag words — emotional hot buttons pushed solely to redirect our attention from issues that require real answers.
Illegal immigration? Been going on for decades.
I’d rather consider Russia’s recent announcement that its central bank will reduce and diversify the country’s currency reserves out of American dollars into Euros, and note its timing — the same week our Treasury Department issued warnings on sales of our 10-year bonds. Ask me whether I think we’ll have to defend our currency and twin deficits with higher interest rates, and if those rates go up suddenly, how this will affect you and our automakers and consumers.
No, don’t; higher oil prices continue to be a factor in the health of our economy, so that’s a higher priority. Yes, I think the wellbeing of our friends and local businesses is a more important worry than some obscure issue of morality in some other state. That said, though, emotions can cloud anyone’s judgment sometimes.
A week ago I fell victim to personal prejudice when I realized that in 2008 we might well have a chance to elect the first female President of the United States. Hillary appears to be running. No, I don’t know that to be a fact — but all the signs are there. And this politician is already courting both the Democrats and Republicans.
Quick-change or Compromise?
Rupert Murdoch, head of News Corp and Fox, is hosting a fundraiser for her. She’s already declared her sympathy for the plight of unions and blue-collar workers in America, while at the same time she’s stated that she would not support burdening Detroit with higher fuel-mileage requirements. At a recent luncheon speech, Clinton stated, “I am a passionate believer that we’ve got to enable our three automakers to survive. It’s one in every 10 jobs in America.”
Bob Lutz, GM’s vice chairman, recently told the New York Times, “I’m a lifelong Republican, by the way. But next time around, Hillary, here I come. I’m a protest vote.”
Lutz did say he’d made that statement semi-tongue-in-cheek; but, when pressed by the Detroit News on May 26, he said, “There is no question that Mrs. Clinton is a highly experienced and intelligent leader with the will to address some of the nation’s competitiveness issues.”
Three days earlier Senator Clinton had said she now supports cutting our dependence on imported oil by at least half before the year 2025, replacing it with the old home-grown “miracle solution,” ethanol. (She said that the day after GM and Ford issued warnings to their customers not to use E85 ethanol in their non-E85 vehicles — or risk serious damage to their engines and fuel systems — on the heels of an expensive ad campaign selling the nation on E85.)
Just last year Clinton voted against the plan to double the amount of ethanol mandated in our national fuel supply. Now she says she was wrong, and maybe we should double the currently mandated percentage.
My favorite quote on her about-face came from Republican National Committee spokesperson Tracey Schmitt: “The fact that Clinton now conveniently supports what she adamantly opposed is indicative of priorities long on politics and short on principle.” Really? If so, Hillary is not alone. Over the last 13 years first the Democrats were the champions of ethanol and most Republicans were against it. Then the Republicans were all for it and the Democrats were the holdup. And now it appears that this destructive game’s sides are ready to switch again.
That’s when it hit me, during election years, we are constantly entertained by Washington’s Pander Bears.
Houston, We Have a Problem.
Hillary’s flip-flopping aside, let me be the first to inform you of the next act in the ethanol tragedy; the story may break tomorrow or three years out, but it’s coming.
Recently the Boat Owners Association of the United States issued a warning to owners of older, expensive boats, after numerous members reported ruined engines with “black gunk sludging their intake valves.” The culprit is E10 gasoline, the same thing we are now using in the Metroplex; it’s melting away parts of their fiberglass fuel tanks — and the resulting gunk is clogging their fuel filters and fuel lines and ultimately destroying some very expensive motors. That’s when it occurred to me: a whole lot of gas stations have fiberglass storage tanks.
Sure enough, the American Coalition for Ethanol’s Web site even carries a warning for gas station operators on the use of the E85 blend: “However, fiberglass storage tanks manufactured prior to 1992 MAY NOT be able to handle E85.” You see the obvious contradiction; boat owners using fuel containing just 10 percent ethanol are already reporting melted fiberglass storage tanks and ruined engines — but the American Coalition for Ethanol claims that problems with fiberglass tanks come only from using 85 percent ethanol blends.
That sent me to the Fiberglass Tank & Pipe Institute, which also spells out warnings on using or storing ethanol in older tanks, although their concern seems lukewarm at most; they suggest that with proper tank maintenance there might not be a problem at all. But then, on the FTPI Web page marked “Ethanol and USTs,” this bombshell pretty much explodes that optimism: “Ethyl alcohol, because of its affinity for water, is not blended into gasoline until it is loaded into the delivery tank truck.”
American Petroleum Institute member companies address the need to control the ethanol blend component in API RP 1626, which states, “In-truck blending is not recommended since complete blending may not occur. Thus, splash-blending ethanol is not recommended since the ethyl/gasoline components tend to stratify and remain stratified after delivery to the refueling facility. Thus, the pump may pick up a high concentration of stratified ethyl alcohol, damage the automobile engine and not be covered under warranty.”
Let’s see: Owners of older boats have already filled their fiberglass gas tanks with E10 gasoline and watched them go away. One ethanol lobbying group states that an 85 percent ethanol blend could melt fiberglass storage tanks. The Fiberglass Tank & Pipe Institute claims tanks built before 1992 “could” have a problem with ethanol blends, but then spins around and says that the way we are delivering ethanol to local stations does an inadequate job of blending ethanol. Therefore, high concentrations of “stratified” ethanol are stored in fiberglass gas tanks and pumped into your automobile’s fuel system. And, because the ethanol doesn’t fully blend, parts of the fiberglass storage tanks are holding concentrations of ethanol much higher than 10 percent — which everyone recognizes means trouble on older tanks.
It’s a ticking time bomb, just like MTBE: Sooner or later, because gasoline storage tanks either are older or are not properly maintained, the higher concentrations of stratified, or insufficiently mixed, ethanol could eat through their walls. Next thing you know, subsoil gasoline plumes will invade local neighborhoods … and the water supply. In case you didn’t know, benzene is not good for St. Augustine grass — or children. This is what Hillary wants more of? For that matter, this is what Congress mandated last year?
“American Idol” is Bigger News?
Unlike in most weeks, positive energy stories surfaced and sank without remark. At 3:10 on the morning of May 25, a 576-mile-long oil pipeline began delivering crude oil from Kazakhstan directly into China. It’s the first such pipeline in their history, but by the end of this year it will supply 15 percent of China’s energy needs. That gives some relief to other nations that must import oil.
The very next day Exxon purchased 2.2 million barrels of Azeri Light Crude, marking the official opening of the Baku-Ceyhan pipeline. That $4 billion project has reached its destination in Western Turkey; once fully operational it will give the Western world another 1 million barrels of high-quality oil a day.
ConocoPhillips and France’s Total signed separate agreements with Saudi Aramco for two new oil refineries in the Kingdom, which will turn that country’s sour grades of oil into gasoline for export.
Yes, one group is still posturing over the snake oil it claims will end our dependence on foreign oil; other countries and oil companies are actually doing something to increase production, which in time will lower prices. I guess about the time we get our first real news on the gasoline leaks in older storage tanks and blown engines in older cars, the price of oil and gas will fall. That event will mark the end of the fourth act of corn-grown ethanol’s false hope.
It’s perverse, I know, but I hope it all happens in the 90 days before the next presidential elections, so we can watch both candidates squirm and perform even more incredible flip-flops. After all, that’s what Pander Bears do.
Ed Wallace is a recipient of the Gerald R. Loeb Award for business journalism, given by the Anderson School of Business at UCLA. He reviews new cars every Friday morning at 7:15 on Fox Four’s Good Day and hosts the talk show Wheels Saturdays from 8:00 to 1:00 on 570 KLIF. E-mail: ed-wallace@charter.net
