The ethanol industry's drive to increase its market is raising concerns that it could stifle development of next-generation biofuels that could be used more easily in conventional cars, service stations and pipelines, according to Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Chairman Jeff Bingaman (D-N.M.).
Bingaman's committee recently held a hearing on legislation (S 178) sponsored by Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) that would require automakers to equip new cars and trucks to run on both ethanol and gasoline and require service stations to install pumps that can dispense varying blends of the biofuel. Bingaman said during the hearing that he is concerned that building an infrastructure for ethanol could discourage the development of synthetic versions of gasoline, diesel and other conventional fuels.
Those fuels could used be in conventional engines and distributed through existing pipelines and service stations, sidestepping the special infrastructure needs required by higher blends of ethanol. Such "drop-in" fuels are the "best fit for the country" in the medium to long term, Bingaman said. "We should not go so far in locking our infrastructure into ethanol that we prevent different, and perhaps even better, renewable fuels from coming to market in the future," Bingaman said.
The committee's top Republican, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, said that "some of the optimism surrounding biofuels has begun to ebb" and cautioned that "we will need to pay close attention to the costs that would result from any new policy that's put forward."
Harkin's legislation would authorize $1 billion over fiscal years 2012 through 2016 to promote ethanol. The legislation would require 90 percent of the vehicles for sale in 2016 to be flex-fuel vehicles capable of running on higher ethanol blends and would require major fuel distributors to install at least one pump capable of dispensing higher ethanol blends at 50 percent of the gas stations they operate by 2020.
The bill also would authorize loan guarantees for the development of biofuels pipelines to move ethanol from major production regions to other areas of the nation.
Current federal energy legislation provides for a renewable fuels standard (RFS2) that requires the nation's motor fuel supply to include 36 billion gallons of ethanol or other renewable fuel by 2022. Complying with the 36 billion gallon RFS2 mandate will require the use of ethanol blends higher than E10, Bob Dinneen, president and chief executive officer of the Renewable Fuels Association, told the committee.
In addition, to meet the 36 billion RFS2 requirement, a minimum of 53,000 "blender pumps," which can dispense fuel with ethanol blends ranging from E10 to E85, would need to be installed in gas stations, Dinneen said.
But John Eichberger, vice president of government relations for the National Association of Convenience Stores, testified that no fuel pumps capable of dispensing more than 10 percent ethanol had been approved by Underwriters Laboratories, essentially the only organization that certifies such equipment.
Other challenges exist, Eichberger said, including the cost of replacing fuel pumps and other equipment, such as underground storage tanks that are compatible with higher ethanol blends, as well as potential liability associated with "misfueling" or consumers who put E15 in vehicles not approved for its use.
