By Matthew G. Bisanz

With about half of the University’s students consisting of commuters who drive to school and many residential students who have cars for off-campus excursions, fuel prices are an issue vitally important to students. Gas pumps in California have passed $4 dollars and the summer demand peak is still far off.

Much of the increased price in oil can be traced to two sources. The first source is the ongoing tensions in the Middle East with the near-civil war in Iraq and the possibility of an invasion in Iran. Those factors have no easy solution. However, the other source is the high demand for oil based fuels. China’s economy is rapidly increasing the number of petroleum product based engines it uses and in the United States much of our power needs are increasingly being filled by oil. This is a problem that can be fixed.

Today most U.S. cars run on gasoline that contains between zero and 10 percent ethanol. Almost all cars made after 1988 can run on gas containing up to 30 percent ethanol, and most large cars and trucks made after 1999 are able to run on gas containing 85 percent ethanol with few if any engine modifications. As 85 percent ethanol gas is between 47 and 70 cents less expensive then 10 percent ethanol gas per gallon, one would ask why fewer gas stations have made the conversion.

One reason is that in many states it is illegal to sell gas containing more than 10 percent ethanol. These laws are mainly designed to protect the petroleum industry from competition, as gas containing 85 percent ethanol would mean that consumers would be purchasing 85 percent less oil to fuel their cars.

However, in the debate of switching to ethanol the numbers are clear. Even now, ethanol is cheaper than oil. If ethanol were permitted in higher concentrations, not only would the price of gas go down, but the supply of oil available to other industries that can’t convert to ethanol, such as the power and aviation industries would increase greatly. This would lead to an overall decline in oil prices and save the American economy even more money.

In addition, much of the grain used to produce ethanol is domestically produced. With all the conflict in the world today do you want your gas prices based on the stability of a farmer in Iowa or the stability of an oil derrick in Iraq? Presidents as far back as Nixon have sought to reduce American dependence on foreign oil. Only today has the technology advanced to the point that a president could reduce dependence without forcing Americans to change their lifestyles in any way. With ethanol you can still have massive Humvees to carry your house and Corvettes that race to work at 90 miles an hour.

Regardless of what President Bush says, the plain and simple truth is that the world’s temperature is rising. This may be due to natural warming or pollution induced global warming. I’m not a biology major, so I’m staying out of that debate till next week. Nonetheless, oil based gas does pollute the atmosphere. As there is no easy way to remove this pollution and we can’t be sure of its long-term effects, we should do everything we can to reduce it.

One easy way that would even save us money in the short and long term would be to permit or even require gas stations to sell gas containing higher percentages of ethanol. As many stations are franchises of oil companies, the additional incentive of legal regulations may be required to induce compliance. However, regulations that save the environment while saving consumers money and that don’t cost Americans’ jobs are okay in my book and should be in yours.