Ethanol is being blended into all of the gasoline across the country because of a new federal Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) promulgated by a new federal law, the Energy Independence and Security of 2007 (EISA 2007). If you take the time to read this 310 page act, you will notice something peculiar. The portion that governs the RFS is only a minor part of the act, Sections 201 - 248, and most of these sections deal with E85 (85% ethanol / 15% gasoline), flex-fuel cars (which are the only cars that can use E85) and bio-diesel. In fact renewable fuel is defined as "The term renewable fuel means any fuel(A) at least 85 percent of the volume of which consists of ethanol; or (goes on to define the bio-diesel renewable fuel). The act stipulates that the RFS is to be implemented by the EPA.
So why is ethanol showing up in all grades of gasoline everywhere as E10 which is 10% ethanol / 90% gasoline? EISA 2007 never mentions E10 and it is not a mandatory E10 law. To understand the new reality of ethanol blending in the US, click here.
The EPA has been petitioned to raise the blending limit of 10% ethanol for non Flex-Fuel cars to 15% by a coalition of ethanol lobbies because of the unintended consequences of the federal RFS mandate, EISA 2007 which was supposed to be an E85 corporate welfare law. Since E85 is going nowhere, the ethanol industry must now find a place to put all of the ethanol that is hard coded into EISA 2007. Instead of facing the fact that the law is grossly defective, they want to force you to take more ethanol in your gasoline by raising the blending limit to 15%.
You have a 90 day window, ending on July 20, 2009 to comment on the proposal. You can find the information about the proposal and how to comment on it here: http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/2009/April/Day-21/a9115.pdf
There is a simple method of emailing your objections to the proposal by the ethanol industry. I hope you will take advantage of this opportunity.
Or go here:
http://www.regulations.gov/fdmspublic/component/main?main=DocketDetail&d=EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0211
and click on the little balloon icon on the right side under the title "Add Comments"
Also please email a copy of your comments to your Congressional representatives and point out to them that they should repeal this unworkable law. At the very least Congress should change EISA 2007 to prohibit the blending of ethanol into premium unleaded to protect everyone who should not use ethanol blended gasoline.
Every mandatory E10 state has exemptions to their blending law, because there are a number of piston engine applications that should not, and some that cannot, use ethanol blended gasoline. Unfortunately the exemptions are not uniform. They vary from only one exemption in Washington, aircraft, to a universal exemption of premium unleaded in Missouri. All states exempt aircraft usage, but most states like Oregon and Washington make it almost impossible to get unblended gasoline. Oregon is the only state that allows for unblended regular and premium gasoline for the exemptions, and then makes it almost impossible to get any unblended gasoline. All other mandatory ethanol states just allow clear premium unleaded gasoline for the exempted classes.
The following piston engine applications should not use ethanol blended gasoline:
We are looking for people willing to work on legislation in each state to prohibit the blending of ethanol into premium unleaded gasoline and requiring the accurate labeling of pumps that dispense ethanol. This will entail lobbying your state legislators to pass legislation to prohibit the blending of ethanol into gasoline intended for sale anywhere in your state. In the case of states with mandatory E10 laws, it may also mean lobbying for the repeal of ethanol mandates. We believe that if a few states prohibit ethanol blending in premium unleaded gasoline, it will cascade into a nationwide ban.
We will also be working on lobbying Congress to repeal EISA 2007 and all federal mandates and corporate welfare programs for the ethanol and oil industries. If ethanol is the holy grail of clean air and energy independence why does it require government mandate with corporate welfare payments? What is it about ethanol that it can't compete in a free market. I urge you to back H.R. 5911, the Remove Incentives for Producing Ethanol Act of 2008, introduced by Representative Jeff Flake (RAZ).
If you are interested in supporting the Coalition please email us by using the contact button and we will add your name in the state list below. You will be able to contact others in your state with a similar interest. We will eventually have model legislative boilerplate to use when working with your state legislators. Activity will be tracked in the state forums and there is a link to each state forum up in the left margin. Please join the forum from your state and tell us about your activity.
If you need information with references to frame arguments against ethanol blending please look at the Talking Points section of this site.