You say you have a question. Excuse me, but what's your question?
Ethanol as an oxygenate and ethanol as an octane booster are two different things. Totally unrelated, really.
Lead was used as an octane booster, true. But adding lead is not the only way to boost octane. The fact that premium unleaded gas exists is evidence of that. Lead-free gas was introduced because car manufacturers needed to use catalytic converters to meet emissions requirements. Leaded gas was eliminated when it was recognized that people living close to freeways had much more lead in their bodies than those who didn't.
MTBE was used both as an octane booster and as on oxygenate. The reason for oxygenated fuels is to reduce emissions, not to raise octane. Many states required oxygenated fuels, and the most vialble alternatives were MTBE and ethanol. But MTBE has a nasty habit of contaminating groundwater, so no more MTBE.
Without MTBE, if you have to have oxygenated fuels you're pretty much stuck with ethanol, if for no other reason than it's available. The reason we have ethanol production has less to do with its suitability as a fuel additive and more to do with politics, but years of subsidies have built up a huge ethanol infrastructure that's not going to disappear overnight.
That ethanol boosts octane is a bonus, but secondary to its use as an oxygenate. If the requirement for oxygenated fuels went away, the demand for ethanol would significantly decrease. But right now, petroleum distributors are required to produce oxygenated fuels, and ethanol is the simplest way to do it.
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