In response to the recent article regarding Pacific Biodiesel (“So Frustrating,” May 4, 2006), it is too bad the author did such a poor job of researching the facts. There is a lot of misinformation out there concerning biodiesel use and this was a missed opportunity to write a balanced article concerning all the positive uses and pleased consumers of their product.
It is easy to be negative toward new ideas and new ways to doing things. The harder thing is to pioneer and create something good out of something bad. Bob and Kelly King have turned used cooking oil that was filling up our landfills into a new useable fuel when at the same time petroleum products are getting less available and more expensive. They are to be applauded for their public service. They are some of the “good people.”
-Gary Elster, Kihei
Anthony Pignataro responds: In the absence of specific instances where I did “poor” research or repeated “misinformation,” all I can say is that my story was not in any way an attack on Pacific Biodiesel or alternative fuels, but rather a reporting of various complaints alleged by numerous parties that the fuel may have played a role in mechanical breakdowns—complaints that have received no examination in any other publication.
LINGLE AND OIL
Well, our beloved governor, the ever cunning Ms. Linda Lingle, seems to have done it to us again! Her noble justification for the addition of 10 percent ethanol to our gasoline was to help reduce our dependance on oil, if you all recall. Reality is that it has provided nothing for the people and plenty of opportunity for the refiners, retailers and HC&S proving once again that she is, perhaps, King George’s best understudy.
I’ve just used my first tank full of her magic elixir. It was obviously more expensive as the addition of the ethanol added five cents to its wholesale cost which translates into who knows how much at the pump.
I couldn’t help but notice the reduced power of my engine as I now have to downshift more frequently when returning to my home on Haleakala and my calculated gas mileage dropped from 22 miles per gallon to 20 miles per gallon Say, isn’t that a 10 percent reduction? Curious!
No matter! Look at all Ms. Lingle has accomplished! She’s created a new ethanol production industry we really didn’t need. She’s extended the death throws of the sugar industry by providing a market for their green waste.
And now, our gasoline prices will vary not only as a function of the oil companies’ greed but also that of the ethanol producers (and keep in mind that a gallon of ethanol is more expensive now than a gallon of gasoline). The topper—we’ll all be using more of a more expensive product!
Didn’t the Guv just browbeat the legislature into suspending the gas cap? Whoops! Different subject! Different letter!
-Al Rabold, Kula
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