State lawmakers spent a large portion of the 2007 legislative session to make Oregon a national leader in protecting the environment by integrating ethanol into its gasoline. But one law has polarized public opinion about whether Oregon drivers will help save the environment or cause more harm to it.
By Sept. 16 all petroleum-based gasoline sold in Oregon must be mixed with corn ethanol. The deadline for Lane County is April 15, and gasoline retailers in northwestern Oregon had a Jan. 15 deadline. Retailers will sell a mix that is 90percent gasoline and 10 percent ethanol.
While advocates of ethanol use have praised Oregon’s move to join the handful of other states that mandate such mixtures, critics have yelled and screamed that the corn starch-based ethanol that Oregon will utilize causes extreme environmental damage and economic problems and is not energy efficient.

Those supporting ethanol use say adding it to the mixture not only helps the environment, but it also reduces dependency on foreign oil, which has a number of potentially positive side effects in itself, adding that ethanol mixtures could also drop the prices of motor fuel.
“Theoretically (the price of gasoline) should come down because ethanol is cheaper than pure petroleum gasoline,” said Clark Cooney, the assistant administrator for Oregon’s Measurement Standards Division, the state agency that regulates fuel standards.
Reports are conflicting as the science is not yet settled, but according to one corn industry report, ethanol lowers harmful carbon monoxide emissions by 30 percent and carbon dioxide emissions by 27 percent.
Each gallon of 10 percent ethanol mixed with gasoline cuts greenhouse gas emissions by 12 to 9 percent, according to the Oregon Environmental Council.
The production of corn ethanol has also contributed to more jobs, helping rural farming communities and indirectly saving consumers billions of dollars.
But even the proponents of ethanol use underscore how its production can have negative effects.
Production of corn for ethanol, if not done right, can be just as bad as petroleum production, said Jeremy Graybill, a spokesman for the OEC.
Graybill said his group is interested in promoting locally produced resources for ethanol production that are grown sustainably, but Oregon doesn’t use these products.
The Corn Belt – the Midwest and Great Plains states – grows the corn Oregon uses for ethanol, and much of the criticism revolves around the agricultural harms produced by its large scale farming.
Corn can erode soil 12 times faster than the soil can be replaced, and it can also suck up groundwater 25 percent faster than the natural recharge rate, according to a Cornell University study.
The driving ethanol demand has caused U.S. farmers to plant an estimated 15 percent more corn acres in 2007 – 12.1 million acres more than 2006, and the most since World War II, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
The majority of those acres comes from farmers switching from soybeans, but the move creates an increase of pollution. Soybeans require less fertilizers than corn, and pesticide and fertilizers used for corn production have raised serious concern.
Some critics argue that farm land should be used to produce food instead of ethanol, while others cite reports stating ethanol and gasoline mixtures will reduce a vehicle’s fuel efficiency.
“It depends on what Web sites you read,” but some say there will be a “2 to 3 to 5 percent loss” and others “a 10 to 11 to 12 percent loss,” Cooney said. “There are a bazillion variables, and it’s going to take time in the marketplace to tell the truth.”
The most conflicting argument centers around the energy it takes to grow, produce and transport ethanol in comparison to the energy obtained from the us of ethanol.
Some reports state the ethanol process from seed to gas tank uses up to two-thirds more energy than it creates. Others reports, such as one from OEC, found the energy used to create ethanol is renewable, unlike crude oil, and therefore reduced the energy used to produce ethanol in the long run.
The law went into effect once Oregon had the capability to produce 40 million gallons of ethanol, and that goal was reached in fall 2007 when a plant in Boardman, Ore., was opened. Another plant in Clatskanie, Ore., is being built.
The incremental deadlines across the state were given so that dealers and loading terminals could catch up with ethanol production, Cooney said.
While debate swirls and gets heated between proponents and critics, state officials say the embryonic plan should eventually evolve to make ethanol cleaner and more efficient.
For the time being, many see the step as one in the right direction.
Said Cooney: “The issue is polarizing, but we now have a law and we all need to come together and work together.”
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