In a clear sign of the continued erosion of support nationally for the ethanol mandates contained in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA 2007), Texas Governor Rick Perry (a former USAF C-130 pilot) has called on the EPA to issue waivers to states, according to this recent article in AGWEEK.
Adding to the turmoil is the president’s proposal for a new, $510 million biofuels initiative that will be primarily focused on jet fuel for military applications. With Perry now a strong candidate for president, the debate over ethanol, and biofuels in general, may become a major topic in upcoming debates.
On a related matter, results of our petition from this past spring, calling on a ban on the blending of ethanol in premium gasoline, may now be viewed online. This link allows visitors to search any state (or all states) for comments from a particular group of people affected by ethanol’s presence in our nation’s fuel supply. For instance, selecting ” — any state — ” and Comment contains… “plane” yields 801 comments. Selecting “Florida” and Comment contains… “plane” yields 61 comments. Searching on “car”, “motorcycle”, “farm”, etc. shows how widespread the demand for an ethanol-free alternative is. Searching on “damage” yields hundreds of accounts of expensive property damage due to ethanol.
The GAfuels Blog is written by two private pilots concerned about the future availability of fuels for piston-engine aircraft: Dean Billing, Sisters, Ore., an expert on autogas and ethanol, and Kent Misegades, Cary, N.C., an aerospace engineer, aviation sales rep for U-Fuel, and president of EAA1114.