The downside to removing the ethanol is that loss of octane.
Your engine may "hammer" (knock) running on low octane gasoline.
Beginning before WWII they used to use tetra-ethyl lead (leaded gasoline) Then they found in the 1980s the lead "escaping" into the environment and ending up as a dust on your roadways, or in the meat of fish you catch to eat.
So they switched out the lead and went to MTBE.
Methyl tert-butyl ether - Wikipedia That didn't last long. Contamination of aquifers being the biggest bad.
Now they use ethyl alcohol - sold originally to a gullible public as a way to "stretch" fuel stocks, but actually in the overall picture INCREASES the consumption of petroleum fuel. Something has to power the tractors to grow and harvest that corn. And run the stills to distill the alcohol. And something has to fertilize that corn (Owner says corn is a "heavy feeder.") Petroleum derived fertilizers are the usual choice.
But - overall it is less affecting of the environment.
Maybe that depends on how you define "affecting..."
Dobbin