Letters to the Editor 12-21-2006
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By -
- Ethanol - Enforce The Borders - U.S. 30
Ethanol
Editor, Times-Union:A number of ethanol plants have been proposed for northeastern Indiana. There is a significant amount of overlap in the corn supplying areas for these plants and they will be vying for the same corn. It is highly probable that excess corn is grown in the area, but it is not clear how increased demand will change this. Marketing issues are complex and there is no clear answer as to who will gain from the ethanol ventures.
We know that the effect of fermenting the carbohydrate (sugar) portion of the corn takes this part of the corn out of the food system. This is the part of corn that provides high fructose corn syrup found in many foods. At this point, we are not certain how energy use will interact with the food uses of corn.
Absolute (100 percent) alcohol picks up water very easily. In a pipeline, this causes considerable corrosion. At this point, no significant pipeline exists for transporting ethanol. This means that, at least for now, the handling of ethanol needs to be different from that of gasoline. This implies the building new infrastructure for ethanol.
My main concern is for the energy aspects of ethanol production. Do we get more energy from the ethanol than is needed to produce it?
While it is a fact that a gallon of ethanol produces less heat energy when burned than one gallon of gasoline, it is difficult to figure out all the energy that goes into making ethanol. This includes energy using steps of field preparation, herbicide and fertilizer manufacturing, picking, drying, transporting, fermenting, distilling, storing and shipping. Knowing if the whole process is energy producing, energy neutral or energy using is critical. In the case of biodiesel, the energy balance is seldom argued as it is energy producing. However, the estimates for energy from ethanol range from a net loss of 41 percent to a gain of somewhere in the 30 to 40 percent range.
Ethanol and biodiesel are petroleum substitutes that do not increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - so-called carbon-neutral products. Ethanol production will become quite useful when we figure out a way to ferment non-food cellulose products such as grasses that can be grown on marginal land without huge inputs of energy guzzling fertilizers. We are getting closer to this being a reality but for now, we do not know how to do this in a net energy-producing way.
A letter to the editor made reference to a Web site to go to find out information about biofuels and "get educated." That site is biased and I urge people to look at a variety of sites before drawing conclusions. To get information about the pluses and minuses in building ethanol plants, try using the words "alcohol gasoline" together in a Google search. Then read a number of the hits, not just those that back up your position.
Ethanol and biodiesel have the potential for being significant contributors to energy. However, we need to proceed cautiously.
James Streator
Claypool, via e-mail
Enforce The Borders
Editor, Times-Union:A little over 45 years ago, I, along with 25 to 30 other young men, stood with our right hand up in the air at Indianapolis military induction center and took the following oath: "To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America." If you will notice, Mr. Editor, nowhere does this say Mexico, Iraq, Israel, China, the United Nations or a one-world - new-world order government. It says The Constitution of The United States of America!
All elected officials or appointed to a public office take this same oath. Not only is the President charged with enforcing all laws of this country, and Congress is responsible to enact the laws that will protect this country's Constitution, they both have the responsibility to protect all of this country's borders and sea ports as well. If necessary, by the use of military force if needed. In other words, when it comes to those who are in this country illegally, it is the responsibility of both the President and Congress to see that those who are here illegally be caught and deported.
It is also the responsibility of the President and Congress to see that anyone who aids or encourages anyone in breaking our immigration laws to pay the price as per the law for this aiding. This means any employer, priest, housing renter, financial institution or anyone who is caught harboring anyone who is in this country illegally.
To those who don't want these laws enforced I say this, I did not serve in this country's military just to see or hear your blubbering, or read your sob stories, nor have I lost some very good friends, friends who lay in this country's cemeteries. Friends who are confined to veterans hospitals due to the injuries they received or never-ending traumas they have because of what they seen or were called upon to do because they took the same oath that I and several million other young men and women have "to protect and defend the Constitution of The United States of America against all enemies both foreign and domestic." It doesn't say to give amnesty or give a so-called comprehensible free license to stay in this country to those who knowingly and deliberately broke the immigration laws or to give any employer more cheap labor or any union more members. It means that all of us who took the oath are to see that the Constitutional provisions are enforced. That means both the President and the Congress are in office to see these laws are enforced.
After all, if this country's elected officials can see fit to put the young people of this country in harm's way because of this oath, the very least they can do is enforced this country's laws and borders.
Marvin Gunter
Warsaw, via e-mail
U.S. 30
Editor, Times-Union:Imagine what it's like diving a big rig rolling down U.S. 30 toward Fort Wayne, but only just entering Warsaw on the sparse prairie. You come up on a slight grade, blocking what's up ahead, (around CR 150 W) and instead of giving the powerful engine more fuel, you'll see a lone traffic light above the road, maybe not knowing it's there! It's going to turn amber and in an eye-blink, turn to red seconds later.
To make matters worse, you're in that zone that dictates you should step on the gas all the way and just make it, or hit the brakes hard, even if ice is on the road.
It might be more beneficial for other drivers, too, to have a traffic light positioned further up the road and delayed telling you what the invisible light will be, when you get there, keeping you out of that "zone."
The sign telling you a traffic light is up ahead, really doesn't tell a driver what to do.
Robert Snizek
Warsaw, via e-mail
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- Ethanol - Enforce The Borders - U.S. 30
Ethanol
Editor, Times-Union:A number of ethanol plants have been proposed for northeastern Indiana. There is a significant amount of overlap in the corn supplying areas for these plants and they will be vying for the same corn. It is highly probable that excess corn is grown in the area, but it is not clear how increased demand will change this. Marketing issues are complex and there is no clear answer as to who will gain from the ethanol ventures.
We know that the effect of fermenting the carbohydrate (sugar) portion of the corn takes this part of the corn out of the food system. This is the part of corn that provides high fructose corn syrup found in many foods. At this point, we are not certain how energy use will interact with the food uses of corn.
Absolute (100 percent) alcohol picks up water very easily. In a pipeline, this causes considerable corrosion. At this point, no significant pipeline exists for transporting ethanol. This means that, at least for now, the handling of ethanol needs to be different from that of gasoline. This implies the building new infrastructure for ethanol.
My main concern is for the energy aspects of ethanol production. Do we get more energy from the ethanol than is needed to produce it?
While it is a fact that a gallon of ethanol produces less heat energy when burned than one gallon of gasoline, it is difficult to figure out all the energy that goes into making ethanol. This includes energy using steps of field preparation, herbicide and fertilizer manufacturing, picking, drying, transporting, fermenting, distilling, storing and shipping. Knowing if the whole process is energy producing, energy neutral or energy using is critical. In the case of biodiesel, the energy balance is seldom argued as it is energy producing. However, the estimates for energy from ethanol range from a net loss of 41 percent to a gain of somewhere in the 30 to 40 percent range.
Ethanol and biodiesel are petroleum substitutes that do not increase carbon dioxide in the atmosphere - so-called carbon-neutral products. Ethanol production will become quite useful when we figure out a way to ferment non-food cellulose products such as grasses that can be grown on marginal land without huge inputs of energy guzzling fertilizers. We are getting closer to this being a reality but for now, we do not know how to do this in a net energy-producing way.
A letter to the editor made reference to a Web site to go to find out information about biofuels and "get educated." That site is biased and I urge people to look at a variety of sites before drawing conclusions. To get information about the pluses and minuses in building ethanol plants, try using the words "alcohol gasoline" together in a Google search. Then read a number of the hits, not just those that back up your position.
Ethanol and biodiesel have the potential for being significant contributors to energy. However, we need to proceed cautiously.
James Streator
Claypool, via e-mail
Enforce The Borders
Editor, Times-Union:A little over 45 years ago, I, along with 25 to 30 other young men, stood with our right hand up in the air at Indianapolis military induction center and took the following oath: "To protect and defend the Constitution of the United States of America." If you will notice, Mr. Editor, nowhere does this say Mexico, Iraq, Israel, China, the United Nations or a one-world - new-world order government. It says The Constitution of The United States of America!
All elected officials or appointed to a public office take this same oath. Not only is the President charged with enforcing all laws of this country, and Congress is responsible to enact the laws that will protect this country's Constitution, they both have the responsibility to protect all of this country's borders and sea ports as well. If necessary, by the use of military force if needed. In other words, when it comes to those who are in this country illegally, it is the responsibility of both the President and Congress to see that those who are here illegally be caught and deported.
It is also the responsibility of the President and Congress to see that anyone who aids or encourages anyone in breaking our immigration laws to pay the price as per the law for this aiding. This means any employer, priest, housing renter, financial institution or anyone who is caught harboring anyone who is in this country illegally.
To those who don't want these laws enforced I say this, I did not serve in this country's military just to see or hear your blubbering, or read your sob stories, nor have I lost some very good friends, friends who lay in this country's cemeteries. Friends who are confined to veterans hospitals due to the injuries they received or never-ending traumas they have because of what they seen or were called upon to do because they took the same oath that I and several million other young men and women have "to protect and defend the Constitution of The United States of America against all enemies both foreign and domestic." It doesn't say to give amnesty or give a so-called comprehensible free license to stay in this country to those who knowingly and deliberately broke the immigration laws or to give any employer more cheap labor or any union more members. It means that all of us who took the oath are to see that the Constitutional provisions are enforced. That means both the President and the Congress are in office to see these laws are enforced.
After all, if this country's elected officials can see fit to put the young people of this country in harm's way because of this oath, the very least they can do is enforced this country's laws and borders.
Marvin Gunter
Warsaw, via e-mail
U.S. 30
Editor, Times-Union:Imagine what it's like diving a big rig rolling down U.S. 30 toward Fort Wayne, but only just entering Warsaw on the sparse prairie. You come up on a slight grade, blocking what's up ahead, (around CR 150 W) and instead of giving the powerful engine more fuel, you'll see a lone traffic light above the road, maybe not knowing it's there! It's going to turn amber and in an eye-blink, turn to red seconds later.
To make matters worse, you're in that zone that dictates you should step on the gas all the way and just make it, or hit the brakes hard, even if ice is on the road.
It might be more beneficial for other drivers, too, to have a traffic light positioned further up the road and delayed telling you what the invisible light will be, when you get there, keeping you out of that "zone."
The sign telling you a traffic light is up ahead, really doesn't tell a driver what to do.
Robert Snizek
Warsaw, via e-mail
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