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EPA Lifts Gasoline Additive Mandate

Posted on: Friday, 17 February 2006, 06:00 CST

By Erica Werner

WASHINGTON -- States no longer will have to add corn-based ethanol or MTBE to gasoline to fight pollution -- a requirement that costs as much as 8 cents a gallon -- under rules announced Wednesday by the Environmental Protection Agency.

The changes, which put in place a part of the energy bill President George W. Bush signed in August, eliminate a mandate from the 1990 Clean Air Act that gasoline used in metropolitan areas with the worst smog contain 2 percent oxygen by weight. The law did not say which oxygenate must be used, but most refiners use either ethanol or methyl tertiary butyl ether, known as MTBE. Refineries now have other ways to blend cleaner-burning fuel without using oxygenates, the EPA says, though states still can use oxygenate blends if they choose.

California, New York and Connecticut unsuccessfully had asked the EPA for a waiver of the requirement because the states had banned MTBE after finding it polluted groundwater. The states were forced to use ethanol, which they contend worsened pollution problems.

In denying the waiver request, most recently in June, the EPA said the states had not shown that using an oxygenate had prevented or interfered with their ability to meet federal air standards. Some officials in the states contended the denial was political because ethanol production is a boon to corn growers in the Midwest.

The rules will take effect nationwide May 6 and in California 60 days after their publication in the federal register, which should happen within the next three months, said EPA spokesman John Millett.

Parts of more than a dozen states, including Indiana, fall under the 2 percent oxygenate requirement, according to the EPA, while others use oxygenates voluntarily. About 30 percent of U.S. gasoline contains oxygenates.

Source: Cincinnati Post

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