Organization Wants Help In Fighting 10-Percent Ethanol Requirement In Auto Gas

EAA Government Services e-mailed an e-Alert to its Montana members this week asking for their help to amend legislation that mandates all gasoline sold to consumers for use in motor vehicles contain 10 percent denatured ethanol. EAA is concerned because there are many aircraft that cannot operate safely on fuel blended with ethanol products.

More than 600 airplanes registered in Montana operate on an FAA-approved auto-fuel supplemental type certificate (STC), as do many ultralight vehicles and amateur-built aircraft whose engines require auto fuel. In addition, all future Special Light-Sport airplanes are designed per ASTM/FAA standards to operate on unleaded gasoline.

State Senator Jerry Black’s recently introduced amendment to Senate Bill No. 144 and Governor Brian Schweitzer’s amendment to LC 1764 both add an exemption section to this bill to allow nonethanol-blended fuel to be sold to consumers for specific uses - collector vehicles, airplanes, boats, motorcycles and snowmobiles.

While these amendments are a step in the right direction, gas station operators will likely not install special tanks and pumps strictly to dispense nonethanol-blended gasoline. EAA wants to ensure that the state’s fuel consumers, including pilots, have ready access to the fuel they need, so it is promoting an amendment to identify premium gasoline as the ideal fuel for these activities and exempt that fuel from the ethanol requirements.

EAA wants its Montana members to contact their elected officials to change the amendment to simply read, "A gasoline retailer may hold, store, import, transfer, distribute, offer for sale or use nonethanol-blended unleaded premium grade gasoline with an antiknock index (AKI) number of ninety-one (91) or greater."

FMI: www.eaa.org