The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) kicked-off a two week ad campaign today in Environment & Energy Publishing (E&E), a Washington DC-based media outlet with five daily online publications and a daily video webcast for energy and environmental policy leaders.
Charlie Good, an ASE-certified mechanic and c-store owner, is featured in digital advertisements on the most visited web pages of E&E and a video played before the broadcast of E&E TV. The campaign urges Congress to take action on bipartisan, bicameral legislation (S. 1239 and HR 1736) to allow gas stations to sell E15 year-round by updating EPA’s Reid vapor pressure (RVP) regulation.
Even though it has fewer evaporative emissions than gasoline and E10, EPA refuses to allow E15 in conventional gasoline areas of the country from June 1 to September 15. As a result, most gas station owners are handcuffed from selling the cleaner and lower cost fuel to motorists year-round. (More information on RVP can be found here.) This year’s RVP restriction ended last Thursday but swift enactment of S. 1239 and HR 1736 will avoid the problem when June 1, 2017 comes around.
“It is imperative for Congress to take action on this legislation before adjourning for the year so c-store chains and gas station owners will be able to sell E15 to their customers year-round,” said ACE Executive Vice President Brian Jennings.
“Our campaign includes retailer Charlie Good, in his own words, telling Congress how ridiculous it is for EPA to say E15 is okay to use one day, but not the next, when the fuel is cleaner than gasoline and E10,” said Jennings. “The ads make the case that the old RVP rule is out of sync with science and forces retailers like Charlie to halt sales of low-cost E15 during peak driving season.”
Year-round allowance of E15 could help save consumers between two to 10 cents per gallon, enabling retailers to sell a higher octane fuel for less than gasoline. ACE estimates that thousands of stations nationwide would start selling E15 if the RVP restriction was lifted by EPA or fixed by Congress.
The campaign runs September 19-23 and September 26-30 and will be featured on sites such as E&E Daily, Climatewire, Greenwire, and E&E TV.