Ethanol-free fuel outsells E15-and-up blends in Iowa
In the state with 26% of US capacity to produce ethanol, gasoline containing the federally mandated oxygenate doesn’t sell as well as might be expected.
The boating advocacy group Boat Owners Association of the United States (BoatUS) points out in a news release that Iowans buy more ethanol-free gasoline (E0) than fuel with ethanol concentrations above the standard 10 vol % (E10).
Like many groups concerned about damage to small gasoline engines, BoatUS opposes initiatives to increase sales of fuel containing elevated levels of the additive.
The use of gasoline containing more than 10% ethanol voids warranties covering engines in recreational boats. The group worries about diminished fuel economy and misfuelling if the US keeps pushing fuel with 15% ethanol or more into the market.
It cites an Iowa Department of Revenue report showing that E0 is a more popular fuel choice in Iowa than E15 and all flex fuels, such as E20 and E85, combined.
Iowan consumers of gasoline, says Boat US Manager of Government Affairs David Kennedy, “know what ethanol can do to their vehicles, power equipment, and boats.”
According to the report cited by BoatUS, E0 sales in 2016 totaled 218.6 million gal. Sales of E15 and higher gasoline that year: 22 million gal.
Iowa seems unlikely to meet its statutory target, set in 2006, of displacing with biofuels 25% of the petroleum used in gasoline manufacture by 2020.
The law exaggerates progress by calculating all biofuel, including biodiesel, as a percentage only of gasoline. This statutory “biofuel distribution percentage” in 2016 was 12.1%. The more-meaningful ethanol-only share of gasoline sales: 9.2%.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, political observers expressed surprise when Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) beat Donald Trump in the Republican Iowa caucus after openly opposing the federal ethanol mandate. Trump backed favors for ethanol and continues to do so as president.
Political tradition says a candidate can’t oppose ethanol and prevail in the Iowa caucus. Iowa’s Republicans and gasoline buyers say that’s no longer so.
(From the subscription area of www.ogj.com, posted May 4, 2018; author’s email: [email protected])
About the Author
Bob Tippee
Editor
Bob Tippee has been chief editor of Oil & Gas Journal since January 1999 and a member of the Journal staff since October 1977. Before joining the magazine, he worked as a reporter at the Tulsa World and served for four years as an officer in the US Air Force. A native of St. Louis, he holds a degree in journalism from the University of Tulsa.