LOL .. what awesome courage !
snort
Posted on 03/27/2013 2:17:58 PM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
Industry associations lost their last appeal
The Obama administration has been pushing to reduce the amount of oil that we consume within the United States. This has resulted in a big push to increase the use of alternative fuels and rules forcing automakers to become more fuel-efficient. The alternative fuel push lead to the EPA’s decision to approve a gasoline blend that uses more ethanol for 2001 model year vehicles and newer.
However, many automotive manufacturer associations continue to assert that increasing the percentage of ethanol in fuel could harm some vehicles. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, the Association of Global Automakers, the Outdoor Equipment Institute, and the National Marine Manufacturers Association jointly filed a petition this week seeking the Supreme Court to overturn EPA's plans.
These associations all lost a previous appeal when the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that none of those trade associations or parties had the legal standing to challenge the EPA's approval of E15 fuel.
These groups are hoping that the Supreme Court might overturn the lower court's ruling.
"It is not in the longer-term interest of consumers, the government, and all parties involved to discover, after the fact, that equipment or performance problems are occurring because a new fuel was rushed into the national marketplace,” said the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers.
The EPA first cleared the way to bring E15 fuel to gas stations around the country in June of 2012. Current gasoline blends available at stations around the country can have up to 10% ethanol.
"Today, the last significant federal hurdle has been cleared to allow consumers to buy fuel containing up to 15 percent ethanol (E15)," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in June of 2012. "This gets us one step closer to giving the American consumer a real choice at the pump. The public has a right to choose between imported oil and home-grown energy and today’s action by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advances that goal."
Some states are also up in arms over the increased ethanol proposal. The state of Maine has pledged to ban the sale of E15 fuel within the state if at least two other New England states agree to ban the fuel as well.
Source: Detroit News
There is no sugar in fuel ethanol. The process consumes it all, or it goes into the byproducts used as animal feed.
Thank you ... I retract what I typed about sugar in ethanol.
Next question ... are we getting animals drunk off the byproducts? I bet this is a stooopidey question.
Well, ‘we’ animals get drunk off the main product!
The main byproduct is called ‘distiller’s grains’ and the fresh stuff is craved by cows. It tastes a little sweet and does have a trace of alcohol. I have know people who made cookies from it.
A thought .. since ethanol burns hotter than gasoline one would think engine temperatures being higher would weaken an engine over time and the duration of engine life would be lessened. Have you read any information regarding engine damage due to higher temperatures of ethanol based fuels?
Beyond my expertise, although lots of vehicles out in farm country have way over 100,000 miles on them with ethanol or higher ethanol blends. New flex-fuel engines aren’t a problem. Older engines definitely ARE a problem, but usually other stuff fails long before any heat damage might show up.
Not good to take chances on this.
Vehicles older than 1994 may be especially vulnerable. Ethanol will loosen up junk in the tank and lines that gets into the fuel filter, but ‘94 or newer vehicles (in good condition) should adjust to E10 blends after a tank or two.
I have a ‘91 GMC pickup with 200,000 miles that does fine on E10, but it’s been digesting it for years. The big V8 loses only a couple mpgs, so sometimes the price spread is worth it and sometimes it’s not.
And no ethanol blends in small engines unless the instructions say ethanol blends are OK.
LOL .. what awesome courage !
snort
you just nailed the problem am having.
I hate the ethanol requirement, but I can’t imagine that SCOTUS would wade into the mess. I mean, I’d find the mandate unconstitutional, but if they can’t find Obamacare unconstitutional, I doubt seriously they’d even consider this.
"While oxygenated fuels have been promoted for their ability to decrease certain air toxics, multiple studies have reported higher emissions of the hazardous air pollutants acetaldehyde and formaldehyde linked to increased ethanol content in fuels (Ban-Weiss 2008; Black 1998; DOE 2009; Grosjean 2002; Whitney 2007; Winebrake 2001).
Both acetaldehyde and formaldehyde are considered by EPA to be probable human carcinogens (U.S. EPA 2007a).
Formaldehyde is associated with respiratory tract irritation, chronic bronchitis, and airway inflammation (U.S. EPA 2007a).
Acetaldehyde is a strong respiratory irritant and toxicant especially dangerous for children and adults with asthma. As demonstrated by a recent study, acetaldehyde air pollution is already presents greater than a one-in-one-million cancer risk at most sites nationally (McCarthy 2009). Further increases in acetaldehyde could lead to increased cancer incidence and wider prevalence of respiratory problems"
Just a fuel filter, if you’re very lucky.
Thank you for returning this thread to original topic. I have been guilty of being off topic and ranting about my own problems. Thank you and agreement with your post.
Almost certainly due to EPA regulations. There is nothing in the ATL area for that reason, as well, like DFW.
A buddy recently noted a 2 mpg improvement in highway mileage (in a vehicle that gets around 22 mpg) when he was able to fill up with ethanol-free gas in a rural area of SC while on a road trip.
It is almost impossible to work on modern automobiles without a laptop, OBD-II cable, and appropriate software.
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