i don't know who this author is supposed to be or who this paper is aimed at, but quickly skimming through i have to say, it appears to be either put together by someone who either doesn't fully understand the numbers they're trying to present, or they're trying to fudge the facts.
on page 35 for instance, they refer to the difference in energy content between summer and winter blend fuels. which is true. then they refer to the lower energy content of ethanol and ethanol containing fuel, which is also true. but then they try to fudge the lower energy content of ethanol containing fuels as being insignificant as if it's irrelevant because of the summer/winter blend differences, which is complete bullshit.
if you were buying potatoes with a moisture content of 91% to 98%, and
3.2% of each pound you bought was earth, those changes in moisture content absolutely do /not/ affect that fact that you're wasting 3.2% of you money buying farm dirt.ethanol in gasoline cost more because ethanol is expensive and it reduces energy content which gives you lower mpg's. do you like paying more and getting less? ethanol in gasoline allows producers to blend in water. do you like paying $3.00 per gallon [$3.75 at my local pump here in kalifornistan] for that water?
bottom line, whatever the actual purpose of this paper may be, either it's simply the product of weak analytical skills, or it's an attempt to mislead. given that on the first few pages, the author repeatedly refers to "distillation", which while still part of modern refining, doesn't account for the extensive use of catalysis which allows a much higher proportion of gasoline to be obtained from each barrel of crude than it naturally contains, let's just say they didn't fully grasp all the facts.
i give it 2/10.