August
07, 2012
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will require all
consumers to buy at least four gallons of gasoline from certain gas pumps after
the new E15 ethanol-gasoline blend is introduced into the market.
The EPA revealed the requirement to the American
Motorcycllist Association in a letter dated Aug. 1, responding to AMA concerns
that E15 -- a gasoline formulation that contains up to 15 percent ethanol by
volume -- could be put in motorcycle and all-terrain vehicle gas tanks
inadvertently when consumers use blender pumps. A blender pump dispenses
different fuel blends through the same hose, and the vast majority of
motorcycles and ATVs in use today aren't designed to operate on E15 fuel.
"With E15 gasoline, our members who make a concerted
effort to fuel their motorcycles or ATVs with E10-or-less gasoline may be
unknowingly refueling with residual fuel left in the hose," Wayne Allard,
AMA vice president for government relations, wrote in a June 20 letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson.
"Unlike an automobile or SUV that has a large fuel
tank, the residual fuel left in a fueling hose could be detrimental to the
performance of motorcycle or ATV engines due to the small size of their fuel
tanks and the higher concentration of ethanol that would, therefore, be present
in the fuel," Allard wrote.
"In addition, the use of E15 will lower fuel efficiency
and possibly cause premature engine failure," he wrote. "Use of E15
fuel voids many manufacturer warranties. In off-road engines, the effects can
even be dangerous for users."
Byron Bunker of the EPA National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions
Laboratory responded
to the AMA on behalf of Jackson.
"EPA requires that retail stations that own or operate
blender pumps either dispense E15 from a dedicated hose and nozzle if able or,
in the case of E15 and E10 being dispensed from the same hose, require that at
least four gallons of fuel be purchased to prevent vehicles and engines with
smaller fuel tanks from being exposed to gasoline-ethanol blended fuels
containing greater than 10 volume percent ethanol," Bunker wrote.
"Additionally, EPA is requiring that retail stations
that offer E10 and E15 from the same hose and nozzle use additional labeling to
inform consumers about the minimum purchase requirement," Bunker wrote.
"Since motorcyclists and ATV users, as you suggest,
have relatively small fuel tanks, they should pay careful attention to the
labeling of blender pumps to ensure that an appropriate fuel is chosen, in this
case E10 or E0," he wrote.
Another problem with the new EPA policy, Allard said, is
that not all motorcycle and ATV gas tanks hold four or more gallons.
"Not only do we find it unacceptable for the EPA to
mandate that everyone -- including our members -- buy minimum amounts of gas,
but the EPA answer simply won't work because of the sizes of many motorcycle
and ATV gas tanks and the fact that off-highway riders take containers of gas
with them on their trips, and most times those containers are much smaller than
four gallons," Allard said.
"The EPA needs to come up with a better solution,"
he said. "The EPA also needs to back an independent study to determine
whether E15 is safe for motorcycle and ATV engines."
The AMA has repeatedly expressed concerns to government
officials and federal lawmakers about possible damage to motorcycle and ATV
engines caused by the inadvertent use of E15 when the new fuel becomes widely
available, and has asked that motorcycles and ATVs be part of any scientific
study into the effects of E15.
Ethanol is essentially grain alcohol produced from crops
such as corn that is mixed with gasoline to produce an ethanol-gasoline blend motor
fuel. In October 2010, the EPA approved the use of E15 in model year 2007 and
newer light-duty vehicles (cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger
vehicles).
Then, in January 2011, the EPA added model year 2001-06 light-duty
vehicles to the approved list.
No motorcycles or ATVs are currently on the list.
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