12/03/2009
The
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Tuesday took the cautious
approach and said it will not make a decision on the request to allow
up to 15 percent ethanol in the nation's fuel supply until next summer.
But EPA officials briefing different groups about the matter, and in a
letter to industry officials, signaled it is poised to announce an
increase. The EPA said it expects to make a final determination in
mid-2010 regarding whether to increase the allowable ethanol content in
fuel.
In
a letter sent to Growth Energy (the group who made the request in March
2009), the agency said that while not all tests have been completed,
the results of two tests indicate that engines in newer cars likely can
handle an ethanol blend higher than the current 10 percent limit. The
agency will decide whether to raise the blending limit when more
testing data is available. The EPA also announced it has begun the
process to craft the labeling requirements that will be necessary if
the blending limit is raised.
Under
the Clean Air Act, the EPA was required to respond to the waiver
request by Dec. 1, 2009. The EPA has been evaluating the group’s
request and has received a broad range of public comments as part of
the administrative rulemaking process. The EPA and the Department of
Energy also undertook several studies to determine whether cars could
handle higher ethanol blends. Testing has been proceeding as quickly as
possible given the available testing facilities.
In
the letter to Growth Energy co-chairs General Wesley Clark and Jeff
Broin, EPA's Gina McCarthy (the assistant administrator in the Office
of Air and Radiation) said: "It is vitally important that the country increase the use of renewable fuels. To
meet that goal, EPA is working to implement the long-term renewable
fuels mandate of 36 billion gallons by 2022. To achieve the renewable
fuel requirements in future years, it is clear that ethanol will need
to be blended into gasoline at levels greater than the current limit of
10%. To help address this so-called 'blend wall' issue, EPA has been
evaluating the request from Growth Energy to allow for the use of up to
15% ethanol in gasoline (E15). As we have seen in the range of comments
from stakeholders…a common theme we heard…is that the federal
government and other stakeholders are looking to have a successful,
long-term introduction of more renewable fuels into the transportation
sector.
Based
on EPA's remarks, the agency likely will approve the increase to 15
percent next summer, perhaps for use only in cars of the 2001 model
year and later. Also, the EPA's approach to wait until more analysis is
completed avoids, for now, expected court challenges absent completion
of the Department of Energy testing. The EPA clearly took the easy way
out, effectively punting their decision into mid-2010 or later, using
the DOE studies as their reason for this delay. But one thing is now
more known is that the EPA will not likely go the E12 route but,
instead, will approve E15 for stated engines/vehicles.