Survey: Some E15 sellers don’t label pump

Posted on 11 February 2013

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A recent survey found that 35 percent of the registered sellers of E15 are not labeling the higher-ethanol gas at the pump.

Six of the 17 registered sellers of E15 had not labeled the pump accordingly, according to Cindy Squires, chief counsel of public affairs and director of regulatory affairs for the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

The survey also found that several service stations selling the fuel blended with 15 percent ethanol were not registered, as required by the Renewable Fuel Standard, the Environmental Protection Agency mandate that calls for an overall reduction in the fuel supply through the use of biofuels.

“After the gas stations were surveyed, it turned out six of those sites had not even put a basic warning label on the pump,” Squires told Soundings Trade Only. “That’s very concerning to us. Even with all the scrutiny on E15 these sellers didn’t bother to even label the pump.”

One of the conditions stations must adhere to in order to sell E15 is to sign up to have a survey of their operations performed.

“It’s part of the EPA’s effort to make sure they’re fulfilling the mandates they’ve put forward,” Squires said.

“Now there are 18 registered program sites, and we’ve just heard that there may be some sites that aren’t registered, so they may not be complying with anything,” Squires said. “This is from the firm that they are required to hire to check on their compliance, so it’s troubling something that simple can’t be complied with.”

The sellers of E15 are in Iowa, Kansas and South Dakota.

— Reagan Haynes

Comments

5 Monday, 04 March 2013 20:52

By mark farner

The owners manual for my 2010 Subaru specifically points out that any ethanol above 10% will void the warranty.

4 Thursday, 14 February 2013 03:01

By Scott T

What the f#*$ are you talking about Jose? Everyone should move to the big city? This is America. We have the right to live where we want to. Europe is in shambles and you want to emulate that? Why don't you move there? I don't live in the city and am in good shape, so what? That's a personal choice, not a result of where i live. America is based on free market capitalism. For the government to subsidize a fuel that has higher operating costs, a larger carbon footprint than petro and drives up food prices is outrageous. I'm all for a clean environment, but this is not the answer. And yes, Joser, I own several guns and won't be turning them in whether mandated or not.

3 Wednesday, 13 February 2013 15:38

By Steve VG

Virgil,

What is criminal is that the oil companies can make a lower octane gasoline today that is prone to higher emissions and get away with it as long as 10% ethanol in added to make minimum octane requirements.

I think the oil industry should tell people what the top 10% of distillation looks like and what type of aromatics are being added.

I am in support of E15 for on road modern vehicles only, as long as ethanol is added to E10 to create E15. Lets give consumers the choice to pick a mid-grade octane E15 at 5cent less per gallon today. I would say that the fuel station being talked about here that don't properly label by the E15 law is that the E85 hose can also dispense E15 as does out blender station. Meaning we only market E15 to FFV's. I don't agree with this article since if you follow one law which I feel protects the consumer even better, how can we blamed for this issue.

Time to make changes at EPA and ASTM to protect everyone yet make some progress.

2 Monday, 11 February 2013 20:03

By Jose Santiago

Good. I hope this makes people move to cities. Gas engines are bad for the environment and encourage the lone wolf lifestyle. We need more things like this to slowly bring people back into cities where we can work together, if it means ruining their cars then that is what it will take. They shouldn't have become dependent on cars anyway. Look at Europe, everybody lives in cities and uses public transportation and they are all in very good shape and can afford universal healthcare. We need to be more like Europe. Americans need to grow up, ditch the big loud trucks and fast BMW sports cars and embrace the future.

1 Monday, 11 February 2013 16:43

By Virgil

As a marine person AND the owner of an expensive car which would be damaged by E-15 I find this criminal......at least you told us the states, how about the companies?

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