{"id":15933,"date":"2013-08-26T11:05:26","date_gmt":"2013-08-26T16:05:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=15933"},"modified":"2013-08-26T15:03:53","modified_gmt":"2013-08-26T20:03:53","slug":"why-it-could-get-a-lot-harder-to-find-ethanol-free-pure-gasoline-in-oklahoma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2013\/08\/26\/why-it-could-get-a-lot-harder-to-find-ethanol-free-pure-gasoline-in-oklahoma\/","title":{"rendered":"Why It Could Get a Lot Harder to Find Ethanol-Free \u2018Pure Gasoline\u2019 in Oklahoma"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

Joe Wertz \/ StateImpact Oklahoma<\/p>\n

A gas station in Oklahoma City promotes ethanol-free gasoline.<\/p>\n<\/div>

Oklahoma\u2019s supply of ethanol-free gasoline is endangered, which could make the fuel harder to find \u2014 or simply more expensive.<\/p>

The changes could come as soon as September, and OnCue Express CEO Jim Griffith tells The Oklahoman<\/em>\u2019s Jay F. Marks\u00a0the price spread<\/a> between pure gasoline and the 10 percent ethanol blend could \u201cgrow to 25 cents a gallon or more.\u201d<\/p>

What\u2019s behind the limited supply? It\u2019s the federal government\u2019s fault, the industry says:<\/p>\n

Federal requirements are forcing refiners to produce growing amounts of fuel blended with ethanol, endangering the supply of pure gasoline in the central part of the United States, including Oklahoma.<\/p><\/blockquote>

The federal Renewable Fuels Standard requires oil and gas companies to blend gasoline with biofuels like ethanol. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in mid-August finalized the standard\u2019s biofuel levels<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

American Petroleum Institute<\/p>\n

The American Petroleum ran ads criticizing the biofuel mandates in the federal Renewable Energy Standard<\/p>\n<\/div>

Advocates say the federal standard reduces the nation\u2019s use of foreign oil and promotes sources of alternative energy, but the oil and gas industry and\u00a0opponents like Oklahoma U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe<\/a>\u00a0says the mandate is flawed.<\/p>

Many drivers say ethanol blends are bad for small gas-powered tools, like lawnmowers, as well as vehicle engines. This worry has been reinforced by the American Petroleum Institute<\/a>, a major oil and gas lobby, which has issued ads that say the higher ethanol mandates could void engine warranties.<\/p>

In July 2013, the API’s President and CEO Jack N. Gerard criticized the standard in testimony<\/a> to a subcommittee of the U.S. House Committee on Energy and Commerce:<\/p>\n

… in an \u201conly in Washington\u201d turn of events, the RFS also mandates the use of a fuel that simply doesn\u2019t exist. Currently, the amount of commercially available advanced cellulosic biofuels in the market doesn\u2019t come close to meeting the arbitrary requirements of the RFS. In other words, RFS mandates the use of a phantom fuel that could cost American consumers millions.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

StateImpact Oklahoma is a partnership among Oklahoma\u2019s public radio stations and produces journalism in the public interest, essential to an informed electorate. Help support informative, in-depth journalism with a donation online<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Oklahoma\u2019s supply of ethanol-free gasoline is endangered, which could make the fuel harder to find \u2014 or simply more expensive.The changes could come as soon as September, and OnCue Express CEO Jim Griffith tells The Oklahoman\u2019s Jay F. Marks\u00a0the price spread between pure gasoline and the 10 percent ethanol blend could \u201cgrow to 25 cents […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":15935,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[490],"tags":[565,566],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15933"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15933"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15933\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15957,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15933\/revisions\/15957"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15935"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15933"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15933"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15933"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}