Although the ethanol-blending requirement was lifted in California by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, a survey of California gasoline blenders indicated they would continue to use ethanol.
In a report by the California Energy Commission, blenders not only said they would continue to blend ethanol, but warned against a proposed ban on ethanol during the summer months in California. According to the report, "Many refiners reported that an ethanol ban during summer months would severely limit their ability to produce an adequate volume of gasoline that meets California Air Resource Board requirements. One refiner reported that it would stop producing gasoline for use in California if ethanol were banned for use during the summer months."
RFA President and CEO Bob Dinneen said the CEC report is "critically important" to the ethanol industry. "… The oxygenate requirement for RFG areas across the country will be eliminated pursuant to the energy bill come next spring and … some areas of the country, like Denver, Colo., are presently looking at removing the oxygenate requirement that is there to reduce carbon monoxide pollution," Dinneen said. "The fact of the matter is, ethanol is important for its air quality benefits in reducing carbon monoxide and ozone but more importantly for the octane and volume that it provides."
A copy of the CEC report is available at www.energy.ca.gov
For more information, see
INdustry News page 24.