Filed under: Ethanol, USA


Some of the largest retailers in the US are trying to inject either a little good sense or paranoia into part of their customer base. Lowe's, Walmart and True Value are putting out written warnings about the dangers of filling up non-light-duty-vehicle engines with fuel that contains a higher ethanol blend. It's all part of a campaign backed by the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI), which represents 100 small-engine, utility vehicle and outdoor power equipment makers.

OPEI's campaign, titled "Look Before You Pump," will include signage in "thousands" of retail stores starting this spring and will let customers know that it can be "harmful" to use a blend with a higher ethanol content than the typical 10 percent blend. Owners of boats, motorcycles and snowmobiles will be given the heads-up about what OPEI calls the "corrosive and problematic" of 15-percent ethanol blends (i.e., E15) and higher-percentage mixes.

The move is the latest action in the long-running debate over the safety of higher ethanol blends. Late last year, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), for the first time ever, suggested reducing the minimum ethanol requirement in the annual US fuel supply. And while that was a result of not enough ethanol being produced to meet an increase in the ethanol mandate, the topic of increasing the production and use of higher ethanol blends has long been controversial as automakers, small-engine makers and Big Oil have contested that such blends will damage engines. Proponents of more ethanol use say the corn-based fuel cuts foreign-oil dependency and may be better for the environment. Check out OPEI's press release below.Continue reading Look Before You Pump warnings popping up at ethanol stations

Look Before You Pump warnings popping up at ethanol stations originally appeared on AutoblogGreen on Tue, 25 Feb 2014 14:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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