Gas... $1.33/gallon, no more E10

E10 isn't "flexfuel", E85 is. I thought there was a federal law passed that your fuel would have to use 10% ethanol instead of the toxic alternatives.

Here in Canada ethanol isn't mandated by law, but we can purchase 10% ethanol fuel from Husky/Mohawk stations. It's all I use if I can find one of their stations (and I usually can). It burns much cleaner than the alternative, takes care of any water that gets into the tank (making fuel line antifreeze superfluous), and doesn't affect my mileage very much (about 3-5%). We don't subsidize it here, yet this -oil company- voluntarily uses it (gasp)! Most of their stations used to have:
Regular, with no ethyl alcohol - octane rated at 87.
Mid-grade, with "up to 10%" ethyl alcohol - octane rated at 89.
Premium, with "up to 10%" ethyl alcohol - octane rated at 92.
Ultra Premium, with "up to 10%" ethyl alcohol - octane rated at 94.
A few months ago they discontinued the Regular without ethyl alcohol. Now all four grades have -some- ethyl alcohol in it. "Up to 10%" is stated on the pumps. They use two fuel storage tanks and blend the fuel as you pump it. You can watch it happen on the pump if you watch the master flow meters (small tumbler meters in the face of the pump housing). They used to have three tanks, so I guess it's less expensive with two.

I always used the "ultra Premium" in my RX-7, to try to prevent catastrophic detonation and loss of the engine. I guess it worked like a charm, as the engine is still going strong for the new owner. The anti-Prius (2001 Nissan Pathfinder LE AWD) used Premium, though it -could- burn regular. The mileage loss using lower octane fuel more than made up the difference in cost of the Premium so I used that.
One of the reasons the Prius is so much less expensive to run than the anti-Prius. The other is Pearl uses 1/3 as much fuel, and therefore produces 1/3 as much CO2.

 

Blechhh! That stuff tastes terrible!

Ethanol is much tastier.

 

What dolts? You mean the people struggling to stay afloat in these difficult economic times? They're dolts? Why?

Luckily it would be virtually impossible to pass a gas tax, let alone right now.

And the current economic downturn has nothing to do with gas prices or dependence on foreign oil, I don't see your point.

 

With gas now relatively cheap and a new government taking over, it's the perfectt time to raise the gas tax and index it to inflation.

 

While new gas taxes are a good source of new revenue, it seems that the primary use would be giving wall street money. Money that is spent in ways that are kept secret.

Let's hold off on adding taxes to gas till we figure a way of spending it constructively.

 

I was referring to the dolts who don't understand the relationship between gas prices and the economy and our dependence on foreign oil. Yes, there is a strong relationship between oil demand (and therefore price) and the world economy whether you believe it or not.

Tax the dolts who don't get it first, raise the gas tax.