Why do we use ethanol in gasoline?

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Have you ever wondered why we still use ethanol in gasoline?

Ethanol has been thought of for use in cars for some time. But it was in the 1970s, with the Energy Tax Act of 1978, that the government acted in a large way by providing a subsidy for the use of ethanol. At one point, we thought ethanol might have other benefits as well, but as David Mastio explains in this "Ask Paste BN," it wasn't as effective as we might have hoped.

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