LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) — A new blend of gasoline with 15 percent ethanol that was approved earlier this year is now available in Nebraska.
Motorists can buy E15 fuel at Neal Hoff’s service station in the south-central Nebraska city of Lexington. Uncle Neal’s Phillips 66 station started selling the new blend of fuel last weekend.
“We put in blender pumps,” Hoff told the Lincoln Journal Star (http://bit.ly/Pu0WWf ), “and they were active by Friday night. And by Saturday night, yes, we had sales.”
His price for E15 is a nickel less than E10 and 15 cents under his price for regular unleaded.
Most ethanol fuel sold for passenger cars and pickups today is 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gas. Earlier this year the Environmental Protection Agency approved the use of E15 in vehicles made since 2001. But the requirements for those sales include strict labeling and limitations on when the fuel may be sold.
The EPA regulates the vapor pressure of gasoline sold at retail stations during the summer ozone season of June 1 to Sept. 15. The effort is to reduce emissions that contribute to ground-level ozone.
Robert White, director of market development for the Renewable Fuels Association, said E10 has been allowed a waiver on those emissions during those months, but that waiver hasn’t been allowed for E15, except for filling flex-fuel vehicles.
The fuel has become available in several states. In Iowa, for example, sales began Sept. 21 at Linn Co-op in Marion.
Nebraska is the second-largest producer of ethanol in the United States behind Iowa.
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers challenged the government’s efforts to offer E15. The group’s president, Charles Drevna, said the hasty introduction of E15 could damage vehicles and gasoline-powered equipment.
Many opponents worry that although E15 would not be approved for older vehicles, boats, lawnmowers and other small engines, consumers may mistakenly use it. Fuel with higher ethanol content can damage engines not equipped with upgraded rubber parts, gaskets and other fittings.
Steve Sorum, of the Nebraska Ethanol Board, said “the initial phase of E15 sales in the country that EPA has allowed is based on literally years of testing.”
“The testing continues, and the ethanol industry and many automobile experts insist it’s both a very safe and effective fuel,” Sorum said.
The EPA isn’t requiring the use or sale of E15 and has said gas pumps dispensing E15 must be clearly labeled.
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Information from: Lincoln Journal Star, http://www.journalstar.com
