Holy pipeline, Batman: Midwest-to-East-Coast route a possibility
There has been talk of a continental U.S. ethanol pipeline before. Back in 2006, Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) proposed legislation on the issue, but it didn't get very far. The idea didn't die, though. This past week, Magellan Midstream Partners and Buckeye Partners announced that the two companies would begin thinking about building a 1,700-mile pipeline across half the continent to bring ethanol from the corn states of Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota and South Dakota to Pennsylvania and New York. The idea, the companies said, is to bring up to 10 million gallons of the biofuel "safely and efficiently" to the Northeast every day. How much would this cost? The companies estimate $3 billion and "several years," but more details will be forthcoming after Magellan and Buckeye Partners finish a feasibility study later this year. For his part, Senator Harkin is still very much in favor of a pipeline.
UPDATE: Forgot to mention this pipeline story as well.
[Source: Magellan]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Mort 7:01PM (2/23/2008)
Oh great a pipeline so that my food can be turned into fuel and piped to all the grifters in lower Manhattan. Wonderful.
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realistic idealist 7:38PM (2/23/2008)
what a dumbass idea...
ethanol sucks and is just as bad as oil overall...
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sensitive_man 7:47PM (2/23/2008)
Ditto, ditto! Stewpead!
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Wise Golden 8:36PM (2/23/2008)
Awesome idea. This will save hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel that is currently used to transport either oil or ethanol.
Mort, I'v got to ask, are you hungry? Because if you're running out of food, I'll gladly send you a couple of bushels of the inedible feed corn that is used to make ethanol and which is never consumed by humans, and in fact can not be digested by humans.
Realistic Idea -- typical liberal thought pattern dictates that if it's good it must be bad, and if it's bad, then it must be good.
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KarenRei 9:09PM (2/23/2008)
That's a good point, wise. Making ethanol only takes the starch calories out of the corn; it leaves a cellulose, protein, and mineral concentrate that is usually added to animal feed, displacing animal use of unprocessed feed corn.
For those who want to rail against "crops for fuel", perhaps they should first rail against "crops for meat". According to a recent NYT article ("Rethinking the Meat Guzzler"), about 30% of the world's non-ice-covered land is dedicated, directly or indirectly, to meat production. Meat is an incredibly inefficient way to provide calories. Want to increase the world's food supply? Cut down on your meat consumption.
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Dave 9:57PM (2/23/2008)
Eventually, it will connect to the Alaskan oil pipeline.
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Mort 10:05PM (2/23/2008)
Golden Fool, I won't be the one cutting back on meat consumption, it will be your babies that reap the whirlwind. Meanwhile I will LMAO.
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Wise Golden 10:24PM (2/23/2008)
Mort -- trust me, I'm not cutting back on meat, nor do I have any intention of doing so. I know the truth about agriculture and I know the truth behind what it cost to produce meat and what drives those cost. It's oil Mort, the cost of corn and the cost of meat is based on the cost of oil. Just like everything else. You seriously underestimate this nations ability to produce corn if you feel that we have any form of shortage, you're certainly wrong. We have produced corn at an increasing rate over the past 10 years that has more than kept pace (dramatically more) with demand from the ethanol industry. Corn prices are high because of oil. Meat prices are high because of high corn prices fueled by oil, and because of high oil prices required to transport and process meat. The cost of any heavy, low dollar commodity such as corn is very dependant on the price of oil. Corn prices are in the area of 50% related directly to fuel.
But it's nice to see the insight into your pyschosis that you provide in your final sentance by saying that when my children are suffering, that you'll be Laughing Your A## Off. It's nice to know that you find the suffering of babies to be funny because that helps anyone who reads these comments to understand that you're suffering from some type of derangement.
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1985 Gripen 12:19AM (2/24/2008)
Better idea: simply convert the ethanol plants to produce bio-butanol instead. Then you can use existing pipelines to transport it. Also, ANY gasoline-powered vehicle can run butanol UNMODIFIED, not just flex-fuel cars designed to run on ethanol.
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Prinn 10:49AM (2/24/2008)
Biobutanol can run in fuel blends of up to 32% in an unmodified car. This maximum is higher than ethanol's, of which the max is 10%
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Bill 12:14PM (2/24/2008)
Considering at least one midwestern state will be mandating the use of 20% ethanol (E20), I trust auto manufacturers are designing for that blend in all their cars.
Did you mean the corn we used to export to Mexico, which kept down tortilla prices?
>a couple of bushels of the inedible feed corn
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meme 1:04PM (2/24/2008)
"Did you mean the corn we used to export to Mexico, which kept down tortilla prices?"
And also devastated Mexican corn farmers, leading to an exodus across the border?
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Mik_Cal 2:24PM (2/24/2008)
Gee, "Wise", think about what you write before you start spouting off on the Internet...So if the price of corn and meat are dependent on oil then ethanol made from corn is also going to be dependent on...oil!!!
One of the major problems with ethanol production from starch (and maybe also from cellulose..we don't know yet) is that it needs almost as much energy put into it as you get out!! The ratio is put at 1 to 1.2...you get 20% more energy out than you put in...a lousy fraction.
So corn ethanol is cycling oil through the soil and the water to produce EtOH.
America (and you) have been sold a bill of goods with this ethanol thing.
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Wise Golden 4:11PM (2/24/2008)
Meme, bill, MIk Cal:
Bill:
Cost of corn exported to Mexico is not related to the use of corn in ethanol plants -- it's a totally different type of corn and they are not reletive to each other in their cost. Ethanol uses field corn. Mexico's food supply uses sweet corn. Feild corn is very cheap compared to sweet corn. Feild corn can be digested by cattle, but not humans, and not pigs either. The price of sweet corn went up in the US because of the cost of the energy required to harvest and transport to market (demand for sweet corn, or human edible corn, world-wide is not increasing at all and production of sweet corn is not increasing either) Also, the value of US currency reletive to Mexican currency has a lot to do with this inflation being felt in mexico -- it's not an ethanol based scenerio. The US dollar is down against most currencies, but not the Peso.
Meme, mexican corn farmers are doing better than ever as a result of higher corn prices in mexico -- it's the consumers that are harmed, and frankly, I think we had a lot of imigration from Mexico long before the ethanol industry started up. Think about how much oil is required to transport a ton of corn to mexico. But Meme, it's good to know that you are a racist concerning Mexican imigration -- that helps me to understand who I am talking with.
Mik Cal,
Yes higher oil prices will result in higher ethanol prices, but not to the same degree as the oil price will inflate food, and I would like to explain this to you. Corn grown for ethanol production is generally transported a short distace to an ethanol plant. Ideally, the distance will not exceed 30 miles, but the very best plants will get most or at least 50% from a distance that does not exceed 10 miles. The very best plants will locate themselves near rail transportation and will try to use rail for the majority of the feedstock delivery -- this saves a lot of fuel. Furthermore, the very best plants will locate near major cattle or dairy production in order to limit the transport of the brewers grains to the cows. Keep in mind, 60-70% of the feedstock used by an ethanol plant is reused as a high quality food source for animals.
Corn used for food on the other hand is grown almost exclusively in a five state region that starts in Ohio and ends in Iowa. In fact 60% of the world's edible corn is grown in these five states. Why? Climate and soil conditions result in the most prefered end product -- the same reason that we grow wine grapes in California and New York and France. That type of corn is then transported throughout the world. So, a person in California who eats corn is likely moving the corn about 2000 miles. A person in Florida would be moving the corn 1000 miles. A person in Hawaii would move the corn 7000 miles. A person in China would move the corn 14,000 miles.
So, here is the math. 1 lb. of corn moved to China consumes the same amount of fuel as 14,000lbs. of corn moved from a farm to an ethanol plant that is 1 mile away, or if you would rather, 1,400 lbs. of corn being moved 10 miles to an ethanol plant. I am still in favor of moving the food corn where ever it is desired.
Mik Cal, you are using some really old numbers or something when you speak about 1.0-1.2 returns. The best ethanol plants, using all the above techniques and dozens more that I have not mentioned are getting close to a number of 7 in energy return. Those are the plants that will survive and thrive and any plant getting the number that you are sugesting will just go out of business. We need to judge the industry based on it's best performers, not it's worst. Poet Energy and Vera Sun are getting energy returns in the 6-7 range and that's climbing. Poet now makes a small omount of cellulostic ethanol at some plants. All of the ethanol producers are racing to bring bio-oil into their production as well (because it can be a free by-product from the production of ethanol.)
Now, using the other end of the equation, you can easily say that ethanol will help to control oil prices, but not at the volumes we produce toda. Maybe a small amount of pressure is aplied to oil prices (resulting in lower oil prices) by ethanol and that has an impact of helping to keep food prices lower, but the reality is that ethanol production is so low, and oil use is so high, that ethanol has very little impact. That might change in a few years. Ethanol production will almost double, and I expect oil use will decline. That's a one-two punch.
I'm not trying to change your opinion -- I just want to present the positive side of the story. Saying that ethanol is the end of the world is not providing any form of useful data to anyone, and frankly, it's just wrong.
I'm not certain that any one of the three of you have any real world experience with agriculture, ethanol, or even rural America. Am I right?
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KarenRei 4:27PM (2/24/2008)
Wise, I was *defending* your position, and you called me a racist? I merely accurately pointed out that *low* (not high!) corn prices had been encouraging emigration (*before* ethanol became big). This is indisputable; a large portion of immigrants to the US from Mexico were farmers fleeing the horrible conditions in the north, which were largely due to depressed corn prices, which in turn were largely depressed due to subsidized corn imports from the US. With more US corn lands going toward ethanol production, corn prices in Mexico have risen, which has been a *boon* to the impoverished farmers in the north, at the same time it's raised tortilla prices in Mexico City. Given that the plight of the farmers was much worse than the plight of those in Mexico City, I consider this a good change.
And how on earth is explaining *why* people are coming to the US without any criticism of them for doing so "racism"? I *support* the right of illegal immigrants to gain citizenship and *oppose* all of the "they're taking our jobs!" anti-immigration nuts.
Jerk.
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Wise Golden 4:38PM (2/24/2008)
Karen -- I was addressing Meme, not you.
And if I misunderstood what he said, than I appoogize, but the immigration thing has been a hot topic for me because people blame everything on immigration today. As I reread - I had no right to say that to Meme either.
But Karen, it had nothing to do with you -- I saw that we were on a similar page.
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KarenRei 5:21PM (2/24/2008)
I am meme. Not sure how my posts ended up with different usernames.
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Wise Golden 6:30PM (2/24/2008)
Well then Karen -- I'm sorry I misread what you were saying and I'm sorry for the rude comment.
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Matt 7:41PM (2/24/2008)
Wise, you are trying to plant a tree in a desert. Some people make up their mind about things and that is that. They don't care how many facts you throw out. Sure, not to long ago US ethanol wasn't very efficient(and some plants it still isn't) but that is changing very fast. I happen to agree with the people who say there is no 1 silver bullet. Our dependence on foreign oil will be solved with many different solutions. My only gripe with ethanol is the water that is consumed in the process.
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gsolman6 11:26PM (2/24/2008)
If they want to do something as stupid as this they should at least finance it correctly by adding an additional federal fuel tax to E85. That will take the wind out of their sales and protect my pocketbook, and millions of others who want no part of ethanol.
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