EPA decision set for summer
It has been a long wait, but now ethanol producers in the US should get some peace of mind when the sun comes.
The U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) will decide by late summer whether to allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into petrol.
The EPA is considering an industry request for a waiver from federal rules to allow petrol to contain up to 15% ethanol.
Petrol is now approved to have up to 10% ethanol, mostly from corn.
said the EPA is on track to receive by May results of final Energy Department tests on how higher ethanol-blended petrol would affect vehicle engines.
‘We expect that once we get that additional data...then EPA will be in a position to move toward the final decision on waiver, late summer is the time period,’ EPA administrator Lisa Jackson comments.
The higher blend would help the US ethanol industry, hard hit by the recession and a drop in crude oil prices in 2008 to nearly $30 (€22) a barrel. Many companies were forced into bankruptcy and some production was idled.
The U.S. Environmental Protection (EPA) will decide by late summer whether to allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into petrol.
The EPA is considering an industry request for a waiver from federal rules to allow petrol to contain up to 15% ethanol.
Petrol is now approved to have up to 10% ethanol, mostly from corn.
said the EPA is on track to receive by May results of final Energy Department tests on how higher ethanol-blended petrol would affect vehicle engines.
‘We expect that once we get that additional data...then EPA will be in a position to move toward the final decision on waiver, late summer is the time period,’ EPA administrator Lisa Jackson comments.
The higher blend would help the US ethanol industry, hard hit by the recession and a drop in crude oil prices in 2008 to nearly $30 (€22) a barrel. Many companies were forced into bankruptcy and some production was idled.
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