on my way to fill up the truck with cornfree gas right now...
Posted on 11/16/2013 10:29:57 AM PST by Signalman
Motorists in several states are facing a perhaps harsh reality: they're about to see their ethanol free gasoline dry up. North and South Dakota, Iowa, and parts of Minnesota and Nebraska may soon see their precious ethanol free regular unleaded disappear as refiners face the rising requirement of using ethanol to blend in gasoline.
According to InForum, this shift is already happening in North Dakota, where suppliers are moving away from offering non-ethanol regular 87-octane gasoline, thanks to the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The act requires blending more ethanol to gasoline over time, and as gasoline demand decreases, the oil industry is faced with blending ethanol any where it can- especially gasoline that doesn't yet contain the biofuel.
“We made the switch just in the last week,” DJ’s Tesoro General Manager Mike Staudinger said Friday from his Dickinson, North Dakota station. “We’re still in the infancy stage of finding out how people are going to react, but so far there hasn’t been much response. Some customers have asked why we’re not selling (87 octane) unleaded any longer, and we just say that it’s because the refinery isn’t making it anymore.”
DJ’s receives its fuels from the Tesoro Mandan Refinery, which no longer offers a regular unleaded 87 octane option to its commercial customers, Staudinger said.
“My understanding is that the fuel that is picked up in Glendive (Mont.) and made at Mandan Tesoro — they’re not making it anymore,” Staudinger said. “I can’t say that no other station is selling it, but, generally, you’re not going to be able to go down the road and buy regular unleaded without the up-to 10 percent ethanol added. So far, I’ve only had one customer that has been really upset about it.”
North Dakota Ethanol Council Chairman Jeff Zueger said the changeover has been in the works for the past couple of years nationwide, and that the state is simply witnessing the back end of the wave.
To meet the Renewable Fuel Standard, Zueger said suppliers are generally blending ethanol at about 10 percent of the makeup of the finished product.
While ethanol-free fuel is still an available at most gas stations, it’s going to cost more due to the absence of the cheaper ethanol.
And unfortunately, motorists don't have much of a say in the matter, even though there seems to be intense demand not only across North Dakota, but much of the United States. The GasBuddy team routinely receives inquiries from motorists on where they can find non-ethanol blended gasoline.
Set at 9 billion gallons in 2008, the required number of gallons of renewable fuel blends by 2022 is 36 billion gallons, according to the EPA website. The enhanced goal was put in place in as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, though the volume of domestically produced fossil fuels has skyrocketed in the U.S. over the past six years.
Most gas pumps I see have a sticker that says ~”may contain ethanol”, so I can never really tell if it’s gasoline or some “green” EPA kr@p.
Cars get better mileage on ethanol free gas.
If it's a separation device, and [near] perfectly separates out the alcohol, maybe he could sell two products. ;)
The usual method of ethanol separation from gasoline is to add water to the mix, wait for the “phase separation”, and then pull the pure gas off the top.
on my way to fill up the truck with cornfree gas right now...
“Ethanol does NOTHING to reduce dependence on foreign oil and in fact makes us burn more due to the fact it’s an MPG killer.”
Ethanol has nothing to do with reducing foreign oil imports. That was the sales pitch. Because we’re signatories to several trade treaties the US was taken to a world court and accused of subsidizing farmers in violation of a treaty. We lost, because we do subsidize farmers. So, our trading partners were all given permission under the treaty to implement penalty tariffs. And they did, in spades. The trade impact was huge. So, Congress came up with this ethanol defense priority, which was a subsidy to farmers under a different name; but it was allowed under the treaty.
Ethanol is NOT CHEAPER !!
By the time you add machinery, fuel for the ag machinery,fertilizers, pesticides ,harvest machinery, etc. it costs $1.29 per $1.00 of ethanol.
Ethanol is cheaper only because it is Government subsidized !!
Any wonder why many of the ethanol producers are mostly Dems ?
When buying gas in Iowa, it seems impossible to avoid alcohol.
In northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin,one can find ethanol-free gasoline pretty easily (Kwik Trip is partial to it, and they sell eggs for 99 cents, Shell has some suchg stations as well), but only in premium grade. For small engines (lawn tractors, weed whackers, snow blowers, etc.) it is pretty much necessary. For older cars and better mileage, it is a good idea, though not necessarily worth the cost premium depending on what you drive.
Not to mention that with Ethanol you loose several MPG, and have more fuel related issues.
GOOD IDEA!
Is that stuff still full of lead?
Yep.
Avgas still has lead. No alternative.
Lefties want to ban it anyway as a way to end civil aviation.
Too much lead for cars though, and probably not good for small engines either: lead fouling.
Who was in charge of the government in 2005?
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