By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent WASHINGTON, D.C. — Three farm and ethanol organizations have asked the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve gasoline blended with 12 percent ethanol (E12) for use in vehicles in the United States while the agency considers an E15 blend.
The EPA was asked in March 2009 for a waiver allowing for E15 and has said a decision on its use in vehicles made in the model year 2007 and after could come this September. A decision on vehicles model year 2001 and after could come later this year.
The groups – the National Corn Growers Assoc., the Renewable Fuels Assoc. (RFA) and the American Coalition for Ethanol – sent a letter last month to Lisa Jackson, EPA administrator. In it, they said approval of E12 is necessary because of the EPA’s delay in granting the waiver for E15.
“Despite Congress’ and the President’s clear intent to promote the use of renewable fuels, current EPA regulations unduly restrict expanded use of ethanol due to limits on the amount of ethanol that may be blended with gasoline - i.e., the blend wall issue,” the letter stated.
“Decreasing dependence on foreign oil is a key to this country’s environmental, energy and security policy, and the EPA must provide a practical and workable solution to the ethanol blend wall issue, and do so soon.”
The groups are asking for the E12 waiver because such a blend is already allowed under EPA rules, the letter said: “The EPA has also indicated that it would carefully consider allowing E12 for all motor vehicles, but that it still requires test data on the emissions effects of E12. In so doing, the EPA has discounted or ignored the fact that it has already approved fuels with oxygen content that is equivalent to E12 and, therefore, additional testing is not required.”
Approval of E12 could mean an additional 2.5 billion-3 billion gallons of ethanol in the marketplace, said Matt Hartwig, communications director for the RFA.
“We’re not asking for the full waiver now. We’re asking them to approve E12 now while we wait for them to act on E15. We’re not just throwing darts at the wall,” he explained.
“We’re asking this based on rules they already have in place.
The fact that the EPA has delayed a decision on E15 while President Obama seeks an increase in renewable fuels is frustrating, Hartwig said. “It’s time for the rhetoric of the Obama administration to be matched by tangible action. The EPA said they need more testing, but the science supports the use of E15 for all vehicles.”
An EPA spokeswoman said last week the agency couldn’t comment on the letter because it had just been received.
The groups are concerned the EPA will grant the waiver for E15 but limit it to model years from 2001 and later, Hartwig said.
“The real question is one of science. There hasn’t been any data presented showing E15 won’t work in those vehicles (made before 2001),” he said.
The requests for waivers for both E12 and E15 are not long-term solutions, the letter stated.
“While the EPA considers waiver requests in the short term, we believe that in the long term the way to provide additional choices for consumers and market access for ethanol blends is through the deployment of more Flexible Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) and blender pumps,” it reads. “We are working closely with members of Congress to advance these policies.”
For additional details on the Renewable Fuels Assoc., visit www.ethanolrfa.org |
