Ethanol Labels Blend Wording
By Rod Walton, Tulsa World, Okla.
Jul. 2–Tuesday was the deadline for gas stations selling ethanol-blended fuel to comply with a new state law requiring labels at the pumps.
Stations are using various wording to notify the public about their E10 blends, while others are posting signs proudly indicating that they won’t sell any type of ethanol at all. Either way, state regulators say they will be inspecting pumps to make sure all retailers are following the law.
Violators — those stations that use ethanol in their gasoline but don’t tell consumers — can be shut down by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission and fined $500 each day of the violation.
“They need to fix it immediately,” Commission spokesman Matt Skinner said, before adding, “We’re in a transition phase. We’re giving a little leeway.”
This short-term tolerance involves stations that right now “may” meet the spirit of the law if not the letter. And may is the operative word.
QuikTrip Corp.’s sticker, for instance, says the “fuel contains up to 10 percent ethanol.” Outside the Shell station at 23rd Street and Jackson Avenue, however, the wording says the gasoline “may” contain up to 10 percent ethanol.”
Calls to a Shell Oil Co. spokesman were not returned
Tuesday. Skinner noted that some businesses were having sticker issues and would eventually need to get more precise wording about their gasoline content.
“The bottom line for consumers: if they see a sticker regarding ethanol, whether it says ‘does,’ ‘may’ or ‘might,’ they should take it as does (contain ethanol) and make their purchasing decision accordingly,” he said. “They need to be a good consumer.”
Oklahoma’s ethanol sticker law was passed this past legislative session after many stations began selling blended gasoline in the past year without telling customers. QuikTrip started using its E10 blend last fall without any stickers, but company spokesman Michael Thornbrugh said the public was notified through numerous interviews with the media at the time.
He also pointed out that by Tuesday, QuikTrip had posted ethanol content stickers on all pumps at its 57 Oklahoma convenience stores. The stickers follow the “exact verbiage” posted in the new law, Thornbrugh said.
Many nearby states have been using ethanol blends at their pumps for years, he added.
“Oklahoma really has been an island with ethanol not being introduced,” Thornbrugh said. “There was not proper infrastructure and adequate supply.”
Magellan Midstream Partners LP now boasts ethanol-blending capabilities at its Tulsa fuel terminal, while other companies reportedly are joining the effort at their facilities, he noted.
Part of the incentive to sell E10 fuel is that ethanol is significantly cheaper than regular gasoline. Ethanol costs less than $3 per gallon wholesale, while regular gasoline is selling at about $4 per gallon nationally.
The typical QuikTrip store was selling regular gas at $3.79 per gallon Tuesday. But Tom Frisch was selling his self-described “real gasoline” for $3.989 at his McKay’s Conoco Service at 3344 E. 31st St.
Frisch is one of numerous station owners who refuse to sell ethanol-blended fuel. They say it is bad for engines, gets fewer miles per gallon and is only cheaper because it is subsidized due to the power of agricultural states.
“The government is selling us down the road,” Frisch said.
Ethanol’s detractors say the corn-based product is inefficient as a fuel and also drives up food prices.
Chuck Mai of AAA Oklahoma has noted that his group’s members reported decreased gas mileage from fuel that they later learned was the hotter-burning ethanol blend. That outcry helped spark the new sticker law.
Mai said he does not know whether E10 ethanol helps or hurts engines. But he said retailers need to be clear about what kind of fuel they have in their pumps. In other words, no “may” about it.
“That doesn’t really tell the consumer anything,” Mai said.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s 23 fuel inspectors are out canvassing the state to make sure the stations are pumping the properly labeled gasoline, Skinner said. Oklahoma is one of the few states that test for octane on-site, and the OCC’s testing machines are being retrofitted to determine if any ethanol is in the mix.
Commission inspectors performed more than 18,000 tests at pumps last year, and anyone using ethanol blend but not labeling it for the public has a good chance of getting caught, he said.
“We will shut that pump down,” Skinner vowed.
Rod Walton 581-8457 rod.walton@tulsaworld.com
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