US EPA submits rule for higher-ethanol fuel labels

The White House is reviewing a proposal from federal regulators to require labels on gasoline pumps selling fuel containing up to 15 percent ethanol, a sign the government could be close to approving a higher ethanol blend in gasoline.

The Environmental Protection Agency filed the rule last week with the White House Office of Management and Budget. The EPA is expected to decide by mid October whether to approve a petition from a group of ethanol producers to increase the blend of ethanol in gasoline from the current 10 percent to up to 15 percent, known as E15 gasoline.

"This sounds like what you would expect if EPA was moving toward some kind of limited approval for E15," said analyst Mark McMinimy of Washington Research Group about the label proposal.

In its filing to the White House, the EPA said the labels are needed on pumps "to ensure that consumers do not fuel their vehicles or engines with unapproved fuels."

EPA officials were not available to comment on whether the labeling proposal means the agency was preparing to allow E15 fuel.

"It's definitely promising," said Stephanie Dreyer, spokeswoman for Growth Energy, the coalition of ethanol producers that filed the E15 petition with the EPA.

The agency previously said on its website that it would propose an E15 labeling rule for pumps at the same time it made a decision on the higher-ethanol blend petition.

The EPA is waiting on test results from the Department of Energy on how E15 fuel affects the performance of vehicles built in 2007 and later model years.

The DOE said it expects to submit that information to the EPA by the end of this month.

The department will then send similar E15 testing data on vehicles manufactured between from 2001 to 2006 to the EPA in November, with an agency decision on whether E15 can be used in those vehicles expected in December.

Ethanol producers are seeking approval for E15 to remove a surplus of ethanol caused by government mandates to make more ethanol blended fuels to stretch domestic gasoline supplies and cut U.S. fuel imports. States and filling stations will not be required to make E15 available.

Under the Renewable Fuel Standard, oil refiners are required to blend 12 billion gallons of ethanol into gasoline this year. The mandate rises steadily to 15 billion gallons by 2015.

source: af.reuters