If ethanol was a needed product it would not need a mandate

Fuel Fix:

More than 15 billion gallons of ethanol flows into the U.S. fuel supply each year, big business for midwestern corn farms and a drag on oil refineries in Texas.

But with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency now exempting smaller refineries from the federal mandate they blend ethanol into the fuel supply, farmers and ethanol producers are arguing ethanol demand could be in decline.

"The waivers have resulted in a significant decline in demand for biofuels and have cost U.S. corn growers, ethanol producers, and ethanol blenders more than $5 billion in economic losses," the Renewable Fuel Association said in a statement last weekend.

Now with the EPA scheduled to finalize the ethanol requirement for 2019 in a few months time, ethanol lobbyists are pressing the government to increase the mandate above the 15 billions gallons the agency proposed earlier this year to account for the exemptions.
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Oil and gas lobbyists are fighting any move to raise the mandate, arguing that it unfairly decreases demand for gasoline and risks damaging vehicles with higher concentrations of ethanol than they were designed to handle.

"By increasing biomass-diesel and the overall biofuels volumes the government is putting its thumb on the scale, picking winners and losers," Frank Macchiarola, downstream group director at the American Petroleum Institute, said in June. "It's an annual example of a broken government program that needs a comprehensive legislative solution that includes the sunset of the program."
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I think the refinery lobbyists are making a mistake by not bringing in the consumers.  With all the damage done by ethanol to small engines from yard equipment to boat motors, there are millions of people who have been harmed by ethanol requirements.  I recently had to pay over $100 to repair a lawnmower because of damage done by ethanol and that is despite using additives to stop the corrosive effects.

It makes me wonder if farmers use this crap in their tractors and other equipment.

I think Congress needs to invite small engine repair companies and auto mechanics to explain the negative effects of ethanol.  After all, there are more consumers harmed by the products than farmers who benefit from it.