Life Gets More Complicated Every Day

Remember the old days when you could just pull into a gas station, get your gas, and get on down the road?

After reading the WSJ article on E15 (15% ethanol-gasoline blend): my two cents worth -- dead on arrival.

All agree: E15 is not safe for automobiles with a model year of 2001 and later. The EPA and the ethanol industry says E15 is safe for newer cars .... but ... and it's a big "but":

Auto makers have said they don't recommend using E15 even in post 2001-models, although General Motors Co. and Ford Motor Co. say E15 is safe for their 2013 fleets. 

General Motors --> Government Motors --> EPA.

Even the EPA agrees that E15 may be more corrosive than other fuels AND emits a hotter exhaust, which could cause leaks or increased wear in vehicles that weren't designed to handle it.

You still want E15 in that $50,000 Volt?

Then this little bit of anxiety-causing trivia: if E15 and E10 are being dispensed from the same hose, the EPA requires anyone buying E10 to buy at least four gallons. The minimum of four gallons is to dilute out any E15 that will still be in the hose, the E15 that will damage your engine or exhaust system.

Then, this little nugget for the service station owner: many owners have underground storage tanks that aren't certified to hold fuel with more than 10% ethanol, meaning it would take an investment of tens of thousands of dollars to replace them with tanks that can store E15. My hunch: before this is all over, the EPA will retroactively certify E10 storage tanks for E15.  And then when the tanks corrode and leak, the EPA will sue the service station owner.

But this is the nub: it doesn't matter whether service station owners offer E15 or whether consumers buy it. The EPA has set federal mandates for blending increasing amounts of ethanol in gasoline. So, even if the E15 is not sold, it has to be produced (or a lot more folks have to buy E10 to soak up all that mandated ethanol). One way or another, increasing amounts of ethanol have to be blended:  it's mandated by the EPA.

But there is a solution: export more E15 to Europe and Asia.