Wednesday, December 2, 2009

EPA likely to increase the Ethanol blend to 15%

The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it would probably increase the amount of ethanol that gasoline retailers could blend into ordinary fuel, to 15 percent, if tests established that the blend would not damage cars.

In a letter to Growth Energy, an ethanol trade association that filed the request for a higher blend in March, the E.P.A. said that “our engineering assessment to date indicates that the robust fuel, engine and emissions control systems on newer vehicles (likely 2001 and newer model years) will likely be able to accommodate higher ethanol blends, such as E15.” But the agency added that it would wait for the Energy Department to test a dozen vehicles, a task that should be completed in May.