Filed under: Legislation and Policy, USA



For Californians, the start of "winter" can't come soon enough.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has responded to a request from Governor Jerry Brown to allow slightly dirtier gasoline to be sold about three weeks before the state usually switches to the so-called "winter blend" of gas. Brown made the request to bring the gas cost down from record highs.

The most populous US state, which uses gas that's better for the environment in the summer because it evaporates more slowly, usually switches to faster evaporating fuel - the winder blend - on October 31. The cleaner gas is required in the summer because of harsher ozone conditions. Brown made the request after prices topped $4.65 a gallon, on average, this past weekend, about 84 cents per gallon more than the national rate. In some places, a gallon was much, much higher: $5.89 around Big Sur.

CARB's Dave Cleggern told Capitol Public radio that the early switch shouldn't pose a problem this year. "I don't think there is going to be too dramatic an impact on air quality because the temperatures have begun to cool in the nick of time you might say and the cooler temperatures that we're seeing now should help blunt any air quality impact," he said.

California is the only state that uses the exact formulation of gasoline that it does, and the fuel requires special refining. Due in part to a power outage at ExxonMobil's plant in Torrance, CA and some pipeline issues, gas prices spiked recently. The governor's hope is that once the winter blend is added to the state's fuel supply, prices will fall. Some estimates suggest it could drop by as much as 20 cents per gallon within a few days of the switch.Continue reading California takes wraps off dirtier, "winter" gasoline to ease prices

California takes wraps off dirtier, "winter" gasoline to ease prices originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 09 Oct 2012 16:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.



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