[JohnR]

Linkage:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/bu...02ethanol.html

E.P.A. Says It Expects to Raise Amount of Ethanol Allowed in Fuel Blends to 15%

By MATTHEW L. WALD
Published: December 1, 2009

WASHINGTON — The Environmental Protection Agency said Monday that it would probably increase the amount of ethanol that gasoline retailers could blend into ordinary fuel, to 15 percent, if tests established that the blend would not damage cars.

The maximum ethanol blend is now 10 percent, except for cars specially equipped to handle higher blends. The agency said it was likely to approve the increase to 15 percent next summer, perhaps for use only in cars of the 2001 model year and later.

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Kris Kiser, executive vice president of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, said that high ethanol blends could force the clutch on a chain saw to engage, and spin the chain, when the user thought it was in neutral, and that such blends could cause leaks and fires in equipment held in the hand or carried on the back. Mat Dunn, legislative director of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, said such blends could make boats break down far from shore. “We cannot just pull over and call AAA,” he said.

And Bill Holbrook, a spokesman for the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association, said some of his group’s members were already being sued on the basis that their 10 percent ethanol blends had damaged engines.