The House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment held a hearing yesterday, July 7, regarding the science of a gasoline and ethanol blend which contains up to 15% ethanol volume, otherwise knows as E15. E15 use was recently waived by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for use in MY2001 and newer light-duty motor vehicles in reaction to a request made by Growth Energy and 54 ethanol manufacturers under the Clean Air Act. This partial waiver was conducted based on results of a Department of Energy (DOE) study which looked into the potential effect of E15.
The hearing saw a panel of 7 witnesses including Ms. Margo Oge, Director, Office of Transportation and Air Quality, EPA, Mr. Bob Greco, Group Director, Downstream and Industry Operations, American Petroleum Institute, Ms. Heather White, Chief of Staff and General Counsel, Environmental Working Group, Mr. Jeff Wasil, Emissions Certification Engineer, Evinrude Outboard Motors, Mr. Mike Brown, President, National Chicken Council, Mr. W. Steven Burke, President and CEO, Biofuels Center of North Carolina, and Dr. Ron Sahu, Technical Consultant, Outdoor Power Equipment Institute.
The hearing was nearly a one-sided affair with most of the witnesses, save Ms. Oge, testifying that the waiver of E15 by the EPA was a poor, premature decision, and with most of the Subcommittee member’s questions and concerns being raised to Ms. Oge. Specifically, the concerns raised over the permissibility of E15 use involve the potential for damage to engines and fuel equipment incompatibility with the new fuel blend. In addition, the fact that car manufacturers would not cover under warranty damages to engines and the emission control system of light-duty motor vehicles found to have been fueled by E15, regardless if the fuel blend was the cause of the damages.
In terms of consumers the prevention of misfueling is a key issue that remained unresolved as Mr. Sahu and Mr. White mentioned in their testimonies that the final label design for the prevention was not only “weakened” but “will do little to educate consumers in using the wrong fuel.” While much of the hearing revolved around the science and consumer implications of the waivers for E15 use, instead of whether it was the “best fuel” on the market, an interesting stance on the E15 issue came from Mr. Brown in which he revealed disappointment in the EPA’s actions. He claimed that allowing the increase in ethanol volume produced adverse affects for the chicken production community who simply “cannot compete against the U.S. government” for corn, which is the main ingredient found in chicken feed.
The debate looks to be a continuing and complex issue in the near future involving several key governmental and industrial actors including legislation that would disallow the EPA from granting waivers to any ethanol/gasoline blend with greater than 10% ethanol volume.
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