Well, it has happened. I was on my way back to Cape Coral from Sarasota late yesterday afternoon when I noticed that I was running on fumes, so I pulled into the first gas station I came to and started filling up. About half way through the process, I noticed a little sign on the pump that said "contains 10% or less Ethanol". I guess the crap is now filtering into SW Florida now and since this was a Hess station that is usually the same price as the closest Hess station, the price was now 7 cents higher than the station down the street.
I'll have to watch out now where I take my fuel drums for the boat to fill up.
Dick
Ethanol in SW Florida
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Skipper Dick
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Ethanol in SW Florida
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Tony Meola
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Yep, here comes the corn gas. Just saw a TV News story that BP is about to do it. A quick search found this article. Crap.
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Florida ready to pump ethanol
Producers seek greater presence in Sunshine State
BY PHILIP BRASHER
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - Struggling ethanol producers soon could have a vast new market to reduce a developing glut of the fuel -- Florida and other parts of the fast-growing Southeast.
State officials in the Southeast are moving to alter fuel-quality standards that have discouraged refiners from adding ethanol to gasoline sold in the region.
Agriculture departments typically set the gasoline rules, and most of them in the Southeast -- including in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee -- are taking steps to ease their rules.
Standards can be relaxed without harming engine performance, officials say, and adding ethanol to gasoline could save motorists money.
A gallon of ethanol is about 40 to 45 cents cheaper than a gallon of gasoline in the region, which translates to several pennies cheaper at the pump for a typical gasoline-ethanol blend.
"That's our goal. Give them a quality product, save a few dollars and be patriotic," said Tommy Irvin, Georgia's agriculture commissioner.
Some Murphy Oil service stations outside Wal-Mart stores in Brevard County sell gasoline that contains 10 percent ethanol, a blend known as E10.
Florida is the big prize for the ethanol industry. It is the third-largest gasoline market in the country, consuming 8.7 billion gallons a year.
State officials in Florida held a hearing this month on an appeal from the ethanol industry and several oil companies, including BP and ExxonMobil, to relax that state's rules. Several oil companies are preparing tanks in Florida to handle ethanol. A second hearing is scheduled next week.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, calls Florida the "last big frontier" for ethanol and predicts it will be used throughout the state by next summer.
He thinks use in the Southeast will help increase falling ethanol prices.
Six other states -- Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee -- consume 19.5 billion gallons of gasoline annually.
Together with Florida, those states could use 2.8 billion gallons of ethanol a year -- about 40 percent of the ethanol industry's current production capacity -- if all the gasoline in the region were to contain 10 percent ethanol, the E10 blend.
"I think you'll see everybody moving to ethanol blends," said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. "This isn't necessarily a long process. Tennessee was able to do this in a matter of weeks, not months."
It's a matter of some urgency for the ethanol industry.
Ethanol prices have plummeted in recent months, as a glut started to develop. Plans for a number of new distilleries have been canceled, but 73 new plants already are under construction around the country, and 10 existing facilities are being expanded, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.
When completed, those projects will nearly double the industry's annual production capacity to 13.5 billion gallons by the end of 2009.
Oil companies are fighting the ethanol industry's efforts to get Congress to require increased use of ethanol even as they seek to use the additive in the Southeast.
Oil companies don't mind adding ethanol to gasoline, but they just don't want to be required to do so, industry officials say.
A small amount of ethanol is being sold in the Southeast now.
Shell stations, for example, mix ethanol with gasoline in the Atlanta area.
Arkansas-based Murphy Oil Co. recently started selling ethanol blends at some Wal-Mart stores in Florida, including in the Melbourne and Orlando areas.
But other oil companies want changes in the state fuel standards to ensure that their gasoline won't fail state inspections if ethanol is added.
The rules at issue regulate the volatility of gasoline to protect engines from vapor lock and other problem.
The standards are stricter in the South because of the region's hot summers.
Oil companies want the fuel rules changed so that they don't have to make special blends of gasoline for mixing with ethanol, which increases the vapor pressure of the fuel.
The state agriculture department in Tennessee changed its rules on an emergency basis so that companies could start adding ethanol.
"When the product gets to retail and consumers, you'll have more people expecting it and wanting it," said Randy Jennings, the Tennessee agency's biofuels administrator.
Other states, including Georgia and North Carolina, are in the process of changing their rules.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue last week, urging them to change their standards.
"Blending ethanol in Florida's fuel supply is a great opportunity to lower prices at the pump, extend the fuel supply, and reduce the need for imported foreign petroleum," Grassley wrote.
Officials with the Florida agriculture department say they are evaluating the appeal from oil companies for a more significant rule change than the agency has proposed.
"There's been considerable capital investments made by our industry based on the fact that they want to move forward" in using ethanol, said Dave Mica of the Florida Petroleum Council.
In northern Florida, a biofuel distributor in Lake City, American Homegrown Fuel Corp., sells ethanol-blended gasoline for 9 cents lower than the cost of conventional gasoline in the area.
"If big oil would embrace it, you'd be amazed how quickly everyone in the public would love it," said Charles Civis, a company official.
He said he is skeptical that major oil companies would use ethanol, however.
There is no significant ethanol production in the Southeast, except for a new Tate & Lyle plant in Tennessee that can produce 67 million gallons a year, so most of the corn-derived fuel will have to be shipped into the state, either by truck, rail or barge.
Ethanol now is being brought by rail to Tampa.
Kloza said some ethanol also could be imported either from Brazil or through Caribbean countries, which can qualify for an exemption from the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on ethanol exported to the United States.
Two additional ethanol plants, each capable of producing 100 million gallons a year, are under construction in Tennessee and Georgia.
-------------------------------------
Florida ready to pump ethanol
Producers seek greater presence in Sunshine State
BY PHILIP BRASHER
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE
WASHINGTON - Struggling ethanol producers soon could have a vast new market to reduce a developing glut of the fuel -- Florida and other parts of the fast-growing Southeast.
State officials in the Southeast are moving to alter fuel-quality standards that have discouraged refiners from adding ethanol to gasoline sold in the region.
Agriculture departments typically set the gasoline rules, and most of them in the Southeast -- including in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee -- are taking steps to ease their rules.
Standards can be relaxed without harming engine performance, officials say, and adding ethanol to gasoline could save motorists money.
A gallon of ethanol is about 40 to 45 cents cheaper than a gallon of gasoline in the region, which translates to several pennies cheaper at the pump for a typical gasoline-ethanol blend.
"That's our goal. Give them a quality product, save a few dollars and be patriotic," said Tommy Irvin, Georgia's agriculture commissioner.
Some Murphy Oil service stations outside Wal-Mart stores in Brevard County sell gasoline that contains 10 percent ethanol, a blend known as E10.
Florida is the big prize for the ethanol industry. It is the third-largest gasoline market in the country, consuming 8.7 billion gallons a year.
State officials in Florida held a hearing this month on an appeal from the ethanol industry and several oil companies, including BP and ExxonMobil, to relax that state's rules. Several oil companies are preparing tanks in Florida to handle ethanol. A second hearing is scheduled next week.
Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, calls Florida the "last big frontier" for ethanol and predicts it will be used throughout the state by next summer.
He thinks use in the Southeast will help increase falling ethanol prices.
Six other states -- Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Mississippi and Tennessee -- consume 19.5 billion gallons of gasoline annually.
Together with Florida, those states could use 2.8 billion gallons of ethanol a year -- about 40 percent of the ethanol industry's current production capacity -- if all the gasoline in the region were to contain 10 percent ethanol, the E10 blend.
"I think you'll see everybody moving to ethanol blends," said Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association. "This isn't necessarily a long process. Tennessee was able to do this in a matter of weeks, not months."
It's a matter of some urgency for the ethanol industry.
Ethanol prices have plummeted in recent months, as a glut started to develop. Plans for a number of new distilleries have been canceled, but 73 new plants already are under construction around the country, and 10 existing facilities are being expanded, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.
When completed, those projects will nearly double the industry's annual production capacity to 13.5 billion gallons by the end of 2009.
Oil companies are fighting the ethanol industry's efforts to get Congress to require increased use of ethanol even as they seek to use the additive in the Southeast.
Oil companies don't mind adding ethanol to gasoline, but they just don't want to be required to do so, industry officials say.
A small amount of ethanol is being sold in the Southeast now.
Shell stations, for example, mix ethanol with gasoline in the Atlanta area.
Arkansas-based Murphy Oil Co. recently started selling ethanol blends at some Wal-Mart stores in Florida, including in the Melbourne and Orlando areas.
But other oil companies want changes in the state fuel standards to ensure that their gasoline won't fail state inspections if ethanol is added.
The rules at issue regulate the volatility of gasoline to protect engines from vapor lock and other problem.
The standards are stricter in the South because of the region's hot summers.
Oil companies want the fuel rules changed so that they don't have to make special blends of gasoline for mixing with ethanol, which increases the vapor pressure of the fuel.
The state agriculture department in Tennessee changed its rules on an emergency basis so that companies could start adding ethanol.
"When the product gets to retail and consumers, you'll have more people expecting it and wanting it," said Randy Jennings, the Tennessee agency's biofuels administrator.
Other states, including Georgia and North Carolina, are in the process of changing their rules.
Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, wrote to Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue last week, urging them to change their standards.
"Blending ethanol in Florida's fuel supply is a great opportunity to lower prices at the pump, extend the fuel supply, and reduce the need for imported foreign petroleum," Grassley wrote.
Officials with the Florida agriculture department say they are evaluating the appeal from oil companies for a more significant rule change than the agency has proposed.
"There's been considerable capital investments made by our industry based on the fact that they want to move forward" in using ethanol, said Dave Mica of the Florida Petroleum Council.
In northern Florida, a biofuel distributor in Lake City, American Homegrown Fuel Corp., sells ethanol-blended gasoline for 9 cents lower than the cost of conventional gasoline in the area.
"If big oil would embrace it, you'd be amazed how quickly everyone in the public would love it," said Charles Civis, a company official.
He said he is skeptical that major oil companies would use ethanol, however.
There is no significant ethanol production in the Southeast, except for a new Tate & Lyle plant in Tennessee that can produce 67 million gallons a year, so most of the corn-derived fuel will have to be shipped into the state, either by truck, rail or barge.
Ethanol now is being brought by rail to Tampa.
Kloza said some ethanol also could be imported either from Brazil or through Caribbean countries, which can qualify for an exemption from the 54-cent-a-gallon tariff on ethanol exported to the United States.
Two additional ethanol plants, each capable of producing 100 million gallons a year, are under construction in Tennessee and Georgia.
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CaptPatrick
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Horse Pucky!A gallon of ethanol is about 40 to 45 cents cheaper than a gallon of gasoline in the region, which translates to several pennies cheaper at the pump for a typical gasoline-ethanol blend.
By the time you factor in transportation, road or rail, the blending process, and the reduced milage you're gonna' get, the pump price for a gallon of corn laced gasoline is greater than for a gallon of straight gas... But amazingly, Joe Q. Public will swallow this load of crap hook, line, and shinker.
Br,
Patrick
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In Memory Walter K
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This is just more political mumbo jumbo that they force down our throats.
Can you really imagine that people would be demanding the use of this crap because somone else is using it? They just say enough to make people think they are being jipped if they don't have it. Like Patrick said, by the time you figure in all costs and the fact that blended gas gives less performance and economy than straight gas, it actually costs more to use this crap. Throw in one more factor, they say that ethanol is cheaper per gallon than gas, yet every gallon of E10 costs more than straight gas. Bottom line is .....we pay more at the pump, we pay more by filling up more, we pay more when we want to buy other foods that rely on corn for feed, such as beef, dairy, poultry, even other produce because we are sucking up the land to produce more and more corn.
Can you really imagine that people would be demanding the use of this crap because somone else is using it? They just say enough to make people think they are being jipped if they don't have it. Like Patrick said, by the time you figure in all costs and the fact that blended gas gives less performance and economy than straight gas, it actually costs more to use this crap. Throw in one more factor, they say that ethanol is cheaper per gallon than gas, yet every gallon of E10 costs more than straight gas. Bottom line is .....we pay more at the pump, we pay more by filling up more, we pay more when we want to buy other foods that rely on corn for feed, such as beef, dairy, poultry, even other produce because we are sucking up the land to produce more and more corn.
Harv
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Chuck Fulmer
- Posts: 15
- Joined: Jun 30th, '06, 06:10
- Location: Gainesville, GA USA
MPG Drop and the Dead Zone is growing
We now have this crap in GA. I noticed the sticker on the pump after filling up at BP. Started the car and the MPG went from 15.8 in town to 14.6. When you factor in the cost of food and everything else, we are getting screw without getting kissed. In addition to that insult the Atlanta paper had an article that the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is increasing dramatically due to the use of nitrates to increase production of corn. Not only are we getting an inferior product, higher prices for food, the environment is being destroyed to boot.
Eventually those of you on the gulf can cruise with your new metal tanks through sterile waters. Maybe one of our politicians will decided that with all the nitrates in the gulf it could be used as giant alge pond to produce Bio-Diesel. The every one can convert to diesel.
I really wish someone would really think this one through.
Chuck :(
Eventually those of you on the gulf can cruise with your new metal tanks through sterile waters. Maybe one of our politicians will decided that with all the nitrates in the gulf it could be used as giant alge pond to produce Bio-Diesel. The every one can convert to diesel.
I really wish someone would really think this one through.
Chuck :(
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In Memory Walter K
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As much as I hate to support them, the only way we'll ever get the ethanol monster killed is if the Environmentalist lobby turns on it. It has to be proven a carcinogen, a water table poisoner, an air polluter, an inflation creator (which it is already) etc. in order to kill it. Right now, the Middle East situation has made Congress a bunch of "anything to replace oil dependency except coal and nuclear" idiots, all worthy of slow and tortuous executions, but that's who we have to deal with in this situation. The one thing these bastards are afraid of are the environmentalists who seem to transcend the two party system. Sorry to say it, but in my opinion, they're our best hope. There's not a man or woman in the Congress or the Senate with the guts or brains to open their mouths on the subject, especially in an election year. They all need the corn state support for their party to have a Presidential winner. You ain't ever seen world class ass-kissing as you're going to see this election year. Surprisingly, both sides are going to be on the same side when it comes to kissing the asses of the farmers of the corn states. Walter
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