The Feds Plan To Start Diluting Gasoline This May: Explained

thedrive.com ^ | 3/27/2026 | Andrew Collins

[moviefan8]

This week, Lee Zeldin’s EPA announced “approving nationwide E15,” pitching it as “fortifying the domestic fuel supply.” What that means exactly is that the federal government will allow more stations to cut gasoline with ethanol, which, yes, makes it cheaper, but it also yields less power and worse fuel economy in your engine.

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TOPICS: Agriculture; Business/Economy
KEYWORDS: affordability; dilution; e15; epa; ethanol; gasoline; leezeldin; panicporn; summerblend; tds; tdstrolls

[Glad2bnuts]

Ethanol takes more fuel to farm, harvest and convert, than it saves in Legacy fuel. It is simply a bribe to farmers.

[Quickgun]

I have a 50 gallon bulk tank that I fill with 100LL a the local airport for my small engines and chainsaws. Little engines love that stuff.

[Cold Heart]

The LL stands for Lead in Lungs

[FateAmenableToChange]

Those who sell small engines are ecstatic.

If you're not using 100% pure recreational gas in your small engines, you're already messing them up.

[FateAmenableToChange]

+1 — absolutely. Note that most small engines sit for a significant time between uses for most homes, even small homesteads and farms. My chainsaw gets used hard in Fall and Winter and rarely in Spring and Summer. My 2-stroke string trimmer gets used every week. My 2-stroke snow thrower gets used every 3 weeks during the winter but sits idle for 9 months. Every one of these use applications is awful for ethanol fuel.

[VideoDoctor]

If your engine is not designed for E15, you may regret using it.

You "may" want to change your wording from "may regret" to "will regret".

[SPDSHDW]

People in general don’t know or care that there are other engines other then 4 bangers and v blocks.

Same people that watch tiktok and then think they can change a press in wheel bearing themselves, or do struts.....

[Disambiguator]

I’m in the middle of a head gasket job on a Subaru engine right now.

Thank goodness for shop cranes and engine stands (that I own).

[Myrddin]

My 1974 Porsche 914 started life in the age of MTBE additives. At some point the ethanol containing gas arrived. I didn't drive the car very much because it kept having expensive problems. In early 1999, I put the key in the ignition, turned it and the fuel pump started. Next, the smell of gasoline and gas dribbling under the car. Good old ethanol had eaten all the fuel hoses. That was a VERY expensive repair. I decided to sell the car. CA demands a valid smog test to sell. I took the car in and it failed. Nice. I loaded the car up on a carrier and took it to Idaho. It never traveled out of the cul-de-sac until a local buyer in 2008 purchased it.

I ran into the local buyer at the grocery store a couple weeks later. He asked if I was aware that the black rubber on the front bumper starts to peel at 110 MPH. I wasn't aware because I never had it over 70 MPH in CA.

The 914 has been resold to another party with deep pockets and a plan to fully restore the car. That's the right owner. It takes time and money that I didn't have.

[Myrddin]

The repair I applied to the BV500 was supposed to be handled by a factory recall. I ordered the length of hose from the local NAPA shop per the recall spec. It was a lot more stout than the original clear tubing. I still have most of that tubing.

I also had a fuel pump failure on my Harley Fat Bob. I ordered a new pump and filters from Amazon and a fresh gasket and sealing screws from the Harley parts shop. It turned out to be about 3 hours of work. Again, it fired up perfectly. My labor is a lot less out of my pocket than having the Harley shop do that work.

[crusty old prospector]

I only use the non-ethanol stuff unless it is like in a weed eater or blower that I use regularly.

[Cold Heart]

I’m dusting off my wood chipper to sell. I only used it about 10 hours and find burning branches is easier.

I haven’t used it for 4 or 5 years and only used non ethanol premium. Three pulls and it started today with that old gas (with PRIG) in it. The one neat trick is it has a fuel shut off valve that you close to let the carb drain out to shut down the engine.

[Theophilus]

We suffer from the sam mentality on refrigerants.

[HereInTheHeartland]

Very misleading headline.
Buying E-15 is optional anyway

[cuban leaf]

I’m with you. That is the one thing that I felt really needs to be reversed that Trump in fact did not reverse. At least the one that was very important to me at the top of my list.

This surprises me.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Lawnmower destruction initiated. Speedboats become rowboats or sailboats.

[Tolerance Sucks Rocks]

Interesting stuff, but the retarded, adware-filled format of the article nearly locked my computer.