Jury Verdict on MTBE Highlights Problems with EPA Approvals -- Is E15 Next?

WASHINGTON, April 10, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) President Charles T. Drevna responded to the recent New Hampshire verdict in a case over the use of the gasoline additive MTBE:

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"The EPA has twice approved MTBE as an acceptable gasoline additive. More than 30 years later a jury labeled it a defective product, leaving the petroleum industry to clean up the problems created by EPA's approval and Congressional mandates that limited industry flexibility. As inequitable as this sounds, the scenario is about to be repeated. 

"EPA recently approved E15, a mid-level ethanol blend, for use in new motor vehicles. EPA based this approval on a study of certain automobile emissions control systems, while ignoring evidence that the alternative fuel damages other engine components and is incompatible with fuel delivery systems. So, will EPA stand behind ethanol in the face of potential engine damage claims and leaking fuel tanks?  Political decisions are easy when there is someone else available to clean up the mess. 

"The unfair outcome of the MTBE lawsuit should be a wake-up call for Congress that the long-ranging and detrimental impacts of the RFS ethanol mandate will fall squarely upon consumers, engine manufacturers and the oil industry. EPA's unwillingness to defend its decisions is further evidence that the Renewable Fuel Standard should be repealed."

About AFPM
AFPM, the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers is a trade association representing high-tech American manufacturers of virtually the entire U.S. supply of gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, other fuels and home heating oil, as well as the petrochemicals used as building blocks for thousands of vital products in daily life. AFPM members make modern life possible and keep America moving and growing as they meet the needs of our nation and local communities, strengthen economic and national security, and support 2 million American jobs.

SOURCE American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers