Battle lines drawn for ethanol war

Posted on May 28, 2009
Written by Chris Landry

Industry has some powerful allies in its fight to force more testing of E15

The marine industry this spring finds itself embroiled in a struggle to stop a proposed 50 percent increase in the ethanol content of gasoline - the latest round in its fight to protect boat engines and fuel systems from the biofuel's damaging effects.

"We support biofuels - what boater doesn't want a cleaner environment?" says John McKnight, director of environmental and safety compliance for the National Marine Manufacturers Association. "We're against plowing forward and making decisions on ideology instead of science."

The government set a 10 percent limit on ethanol about three decades ago. Growth Energy, a group representing the nation's ethanol producers, petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency March 6 for a waiver to allow ethanol blends of up to 15 percent, or E15. The NMMA argues the EPA should deny the E15 waiver request until independent and comprehensive scientific testing is completed on a full range of marine engines and other products.

The ethanol hike proposal comes at a time when marine engine manufacturers, mechanics and boatyard crews appear to be on their way to mitigating E10-induced engine and fuel-system problems.

"We're managing," says Dan Crete, the head of customer service at Burr Brothers Boats in Marion, Mass. "[Dealing with E10] is part of the business."

E10 has led to the disintegration of fiberglass fuel tanks, the gumming up of fuel lines, and piston and valve failure. Gasoline with ethanol attracts moisture, and because boats are kept in damp environments, accumulation of moisture is inevitable in their fuel tanks. The mixture encourages the growth of bacteria, which collects as sludge and can be drawn into the fuel system, clogging filters and plugging fuel passages.

Mustering support

Before approving or denying the waiver, the EPA must consider public comments on the proposal. The marine and ethanol industries have been rallying their respective troops to voice their opinions during the 45-day comment period, which ends May 21. (At press time, there was talk the EPA may extend the comment period.)

The NMMA set up an online action alert (www.nmma.org) to allow people to submit comments to the EPA encouraging the denial of the petition.

"We'd love to get more than 20,000 [comments] since the pro-ethanol lobby has stated that they want to submit 20,000 comments encouraging that the E15 waiver be granted," says NMMA public relations manager Christine Pomorski. As of May 12, the association had already surpassed its goal with 21,467 comments.

Here's one of them: "Thank you for considering our negative response to the proposed increase in ethanol to 15 percent in the marine engine environment," Phineas Sprague Jr., president of Portland Yacht Services in Portland, Maine, writes in his commentary to the EPA. "Please do not ignorantly pass on politically correct ideological issues. Ethanol is an exceedingly poor choice for a fuel additive in the marine environment."

Influential allies

The marine industry realizes it represents a minute percentage of the overall use of gasoline in this country. So it's reassuring that other big hitters - including the auto industry, fuel refineries and filling stations, and manufacturers of outdoor power equipment - stand on the same sideline as those who manufacture, sell and service boats and engines.

Approving E15 would have a huge impact on consumers, Clarence Ditlow, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, was quoted as saying in a recent New York Times article. "It could cause problems, including the voiding of car warranties. There's a lot to worry about. All a consumer has to do is look at the fuels section of the owner's manual, which says that the use of fuel above 10 percent ethanol may result in denial of warranty claims."

In addition to cars and trucks, there are 300 million pieces of equipment in the United States that run on gasoline, according to Kris Kiser, executive vice president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute. "If we bring these fuels to market and consumers don't understand them or they find it's detrimental, there's going to be a backlash against the fuel," says Kiser.

Another positive for the marine industry is media reports highlighting the weaknesses of ethanol as a solution to U.S. pollution and reliance on foreign oil. Punch in the words "ethanol" and "scam" into a Web search engine, and a list of articles, blogs and commentaries pops up. Some of the more prominent editorial articles published were from the Wall Street Journal ("Everyone Hates Ethanol," March 16), Time magazine ("The Clean Energy Scam," March 28, 2008), Rolling Stone ("The Ethanol Scam," Aug. 9, 2007), and MSN.com ("Ethanol: Boon or boondoggle?" Nov. 19, 2008).

Many of these pieces point out that the federal government subsidizes ethanol producers with a tax credit of 51 cents per gallon of fuel ethanol, so ethanol-blend fuels cost more to produce than conventional gasoline. And it has been reported that engines running on E10 get lower gas mileage than those using conventional gasoline.