Saw this in another forum and thought all the Mini owners in California, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia would be interested

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/nati...=1&oref=slogin

WASHINGTON (AP) -- States no longer will have to add corn-based ethanol or MTBE to gasoline to fight pollution -- a requirement that costs as much as 8 cents a gallon -- under rules announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.
They eliminate a mandate from the 1990 Clean Air Act that gasoline used in metropolitan areas with the worst smog contain 2 percent oxygen by weight. The law did not say which oxygenate must be used, but most refiners use either ethanol or methyl tertiary butyl ether, known as MTBE.

California, New York and Connecticut unsuccessfully had asked the EPA for a waiver of the requirement because the states had banned MTBE after finding it polluted the groundwater. The states were forced to use ethanol, which they contend worsened pollution problems.

In denying the waiver request, most recently in June, the EPA said the states had not shown that using an oxygenate had prevented or interfered with their ability to meet federal air standards. Some officials in the states contended the denial was political because ethanol production is a boon to corn growers in the Midwest.

The rules announced Wednesday put in place a part of the energy bill the president signed in August that did away with the 2 percent oxygenate requirement.

''The federal requirement has forced California's refiners to use an oxygenate even though they can make cleaner-burning gasoline without MTBE or ethanol,'' said Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif. ''The announcement means that California refiners will finally be allowed to make gasoline that is cleaner burning than what they are making today.''

The rules will take effect nationwide on May 6 and in California 60 days after their publication in the federal register, which should happen within the next three months, said EPA spokesman John Millett. California has a different status under clean air laws than the rest of the country because of the state's pollution problems.

Parts of more than a dozen states fall under the 2 percent oxygenate requirement, according to the EPA, while others use oxygenates voluntarily. Nationwide, about 30 percent of gasoline contains oxygenates.

The states required to use oxygenates in certain areas are: California, Connecticut, New York, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin and the District of Columbia.

Oxygenate additives on average increase the price for gasoline by 4 cents to 8 cents per gallon, the EPA estimates. But the agency says the benefits include at least 100,000 tons per year fewer smog pollutants nationally, equivalent to the tailpipe emissions of 16 million vehicles.

Refineries now have other ways to blend cleaner-burning fuel that will allow states to achieve clean air benefits without using oxygenates, the EPA says, though states still can use oxygenates if they choose.

 

it's about time!

 

I'm happy because the MTBE was a joke, and ethanol wasn't a good way to do it (read, do you want more money ADM?)

Finally.

Matt

 

nice!!!

 

in my area MTBE leakage devalued houses by hundreds of thousands. thank goodness it's almost over!

 

I'll be interested to see what happens - MTBE was eliminated in Cali awhile ago as I recall, but ethanol was used (I had always tried to use 76 as most did not use MTBE anyway, I knew the stuff was bad and I swear the cars ran better w/o it).

It would be nice if the refineries stepped it up and made cleaner burning stuff and if the new petrol made our cars run less over-rich and run better with fewer sensor issues.

 

that is REALLY exciting news.

 

are you being sarcastic?

 

just have to much time on our hands....

Matt

 

Yeah, this is good.

I always saw a 10% hit to MPG in my Miata -- 28.5 MPG overall, but over 30 w/o oxygenates.

The argument was all oxygenates were hurting MPG, therefore MORE fuel was being burned per mile. Since most people's driving distance stayed (essentially) constant -- how many of you reduced your driving commute because there were fuel additives -- the amount of bad emissions actually went UP.

CA killed MTBE when, after years of getting cleaner, they found MTBE in Lake Tahoe. eVal, wasn't that only 3 years after they started using MTBE? They couldn't prove it was leeching from the ground water, coming from the air, or just from the boats on the lake.

76 still had MTBE like everyone else but were the first to switch to ethanol. They won me over as a customer for that -- though with the Costco in South City opening pumps soon, my (arriving next week) MINI might be getting its 91 from there most days.

As for ADM or not, don't discount E85. It worked for Brazil and could work for us. I read something about a high compression diesel engine that used E85 instead of standard diesel fuel. It was getting good results without the particulates of diesel fuel -- even better than the new low sulfur fuel.

Isn't it easy to convert an engine to E85? Just some tubing, etc., and a some new software? Anyone driven an E85 vehicle?

--dwf

 

E-15 instead of diesel? I don't think so..... more likely it's ethanol-diesel blends (10 or 15 percent ethanol). Other diesel blends are also being tested (i.e. alcohol or water emulsified in diesel). There have also been some diesel engines converted to use methanol--and some of those are being converted back because of performance issues.

 

Great news!!! MTBE is nasty stuff. So far the EPA isn't requiring refineries to add dioxin or mercury to gasoline instead, but that would be in line with their general methodology.

 

Looks like the process may have started soon but the phase out lasted a long time - http://www.energy.ca.gov/mtbe/ . I just remember hearing about it but still seeing it everywhere at most stations except for a good amount of 76 stations which had switched (I had thought it was all of them until I went to an unfamiliar one, started to fill up and noticed the lack of "no MTBE' signs and saw the stickers with the MTBE info on the pumps).

'fraid I do not know anything about ADM E85 stuff.

 

it comes with lots of gov subsidies! No welfare, except to rich corporations! That's what makes America great!

Matt

 

Word.

 

I doubt though with the greedy bastards that we'll see any reduction in the cost of gas. ExxonMobil and their $50-gazillion bucks that they just don't know what to do with.

 

actually no... i've ranted about this thing SO much to people who don't care, especially when people ask why I drive so often 40miles away just to get gas (nearest place to Milwaukee with no ethanol)

Does anyone know how long this will take to propegate itself across the states? I'm sure there has to be a lot of mixed gas still in storage.

 

Ethanol is added to gasoline at the distribution terminals themselves right before they go out in trucks. Apparently it absorbs water too readily to be shipped through pipelines so is added at the last moment. And since ethanol costs more than gasoline, the distributors would stop using it the moment each state allowed them to stop.

Patrick Bedard wrote:

 

^^ + 1 to that. It'll be nice to have purer fuel, but I'm sure the cost at the pump will just be the same, and all the gas companies will take that extra 8 cents as a bump in profit. The love when they can increase profit without being seen to be raising prices.

 

Thanks to ADM and it's lobbiests, we pay dearly for it. We make ethanol from corn, which isn't very efficient. If we were to buy it from Brazil, that makes it from sugar cane, it would be cheaper to get the same amount of ethanol than we spend on subsidies to make it!

Anyway, just another way to fleece us all for the good of the larger corporations!

Matt