EPA backs burning food for fuel
Posted by Jimalakirti in Energy Issues
at 11:57 am on Saturday, 22 January 2011
at 11:57 am on Saturday, 22 January 2011
WASHINGTON — Over the objections of oil refiners and automakers, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday endorsed the use of more ethanol-blended fuel in most passenger cars.
The EPA concluded it is safe to use fuels made with up to 15 percent ethanol in cars, SUVs and light-duty trucks manufactured between 2001 and 2006. That decision builds on an EPA decision last October to waive Clean Air Act restrictions on new fuels or additives and allow the ethanol-blended fuel, known as E15, for use in passenger cars built since 2007.
At the request of renewable fuels advocates, the agency had been deliberating whether the higher ethanol blend could be used in cars without damaging their emission-control systems.