False Advertising #1

My local Rutters gas station had the following stickers on their pumps for quite a while now (yes, I took pictures of the stickers because they annoyed me):

It was a fairly small and unobtrusive sticker. All it really did was cause me to try and a find a station that was selling actual gasoline and not watered down gasoline. However, as more and more stations switch over to E10 fuel, that is becoming harder to find.

So a couple of days ago I found myself having to stop at this same Rutters and get a shot of so-called ‘gas’. You could help but notice the new Ethanol sticks which are almost 3 times as large as the original ones:

What? Enriched? Are they serious? Lets take a look at the definition of the word ‘enrich‘:

: to make rich or richer esp. by the addition or increase of some desirable quality, attribute, or ingredient <the experience will enrich your life>: as a: to add beauty to : adorn b: to enhance the taste of <butter will enrich the sauce> c: to make (a soil) more fertile d: to improve the nutritive value of (a food) by adding nutrients (as vitamins or amino acids) and especially by restoring part of the nutrients lost in processing <enriched flour> e: to process so as to add or increase the proportion of a desirable ingredient <enriched uranium> <enriched natural gas>

Blending ethanol into gasoline does not enrich it. In a best case scenario the automobiles MPG are not impacted. More often than not (as in my case), ethanol has a negative impact on fuel economy.

The only thing ethanol enriches is the bank account of the corn lobby.