Free Republic

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...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) today issued a final rule for the amount of renewable fuels to be added to the nation’s transportation fuel supply in 2013. The most publicized issue related to renewable fuels has been the ethanol “blend wall,” the theoretical point at which ethanol use will be surpassed by the amount of ethanol required by law. As Americans drive less, demand for gasoline falls also reducing demand for ethanol. Because blenders are required either to use the mandated amount, regardless of demand, or pay for credits for the amount they don’t use, the EPA has been...

03/17/2011 Germany's Eco-Trap Is Environmentalism Really Working? Germany is among the world leaders when it comes to taking steps to save the environment. But many of the measures are not delivering the promised results. Biofuels have led to the clear-cutting of rainforests, plastics are being burned rather than recycled and new generation lightbulbs have led to a resurgence of mercury production. A SPIEGEL survey. As usual, ordinary Germans were to blame. Everything had been prepared for the green revolution: fresh supplies and new signs at the gas stations, and the refinery depots were full to the brim with the new...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A ruling by the Obama administration allowing the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol is running into legal hurdles from trade groups opposing the plan. The National Petrochemical and Refiners Association sued the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday over the decision to allow the sale of gasoline containing higher blends of corn-based ethanol, the second major group to protest the ruling. The Obama administration said in October that gas stations could start selling the ethanol blend for vehicles built since the 2007 model year, increasing it from the current blend of 10 percent ethanol.

U.S. for two things: corn and ethanol. The state is home to 39 ethanol production facilities and boasts more than 3 billion gallons of annual production capacity, according to the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association. The most recent data from the Iowa Corn Growers Association shows that in 2008, 2.1 billion bushels of corn—82 percent of the entire U.S. crop—were harvested from Iowa fields. Iowa has earned its reputation for corn and ethanol and the two have served the state well. But while corn yields continue to increase year to year, the number of corn ethanol plants is expected to stabilize....

THE Environmental Protection Agency is preparing to make an important and far-reaching decision this year that will affect more than 500 million gasoline engines powering everything from large pickups to family cars to lawn mowers: whether to grant the ethanol industry’s request to raise the maximum amount of ethanol that can be added to gasoline. ... Specifically, ethanol producers are asking that the maximum ethanol content in the most common blend of gasoline be increased from 10 percent — a limit set about three decades ago — to as much as 15 percent. The blend the industry hopes will become...

Ethanol stirred Wall Street last week when the second-largest ethanol producer went public, a sign that the corn-based fuel has become hot as gas prices soar. In its first day of trading, VeraSun Energy Corp.'s stock jumped 30% to $30 a share. Production capacity of ethanol in the U.S. has more than doubled since 1999, and the total number of ethanol plants has nearly doubled as well, to 97, with at least 30 more under construction. In April, Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft Corp., bought a large stake in Pacific Ethanol Inc., which produces ethanol. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. recently said...