The Fastest Way to Lower Gas Prices Now - Kill the Summer Blend

by Lauren Fix (Car Coach Reports) ... For years, drivers have been forced to pay more at the pump because of a patchwork of seasonal fuel mandates that make gasoline more expensive to produce, harder to distribute, and less flexible in times of crisis. Every spring, refiners switch to “summer blend” gasoline—formulated to reduce evaporative emissions in warmer weather. That switch isn’t free. It tightens supply, increases refining costs, and, like clockwork, pushes prices higher just in time for summer driving season.

And now that prices have spiked, the same government that created the problem steps in with a temporary waiver to fix it. This has been happening for decades and no past administration has changed this expensive EPA rule. Is this damage control? New cars can handle one blend - not this expensive switch back and forth.

The 20-day waiver, starts May 1, and allows broader sales of E15—gasoline with 15% ethanol—bypassing the very restrictions that typically block it during summer months.

Summer blends are tied to EPA environmental regulations around fuel volatility, specifically Reid Vapor Pressure. The idea is to reduce smog during hotter months. That sounds reasonable—until you look at the real-world tradeoffs and updated engines and the new technology that has engines running cleaner than ever. What we’ve created is a fragmented fuel system where different regions require different blends, limiting how fuel can be transported and sold. When supply is tight, that lack of flexibility becomes a major liability. It’s a failed business plan that the EPA can fix. That’s exactly what we’re seeing today.

Instead of a national fuel market that can respond efficiently to disruptions, we have a regulatory maze that drives up costs before a single drop of gasoline even reaches your tank. Then, when geopolitical tensions hit—like disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz—the system buckles faster than it should. So the Lee Zeldin at at the EPA waived the rules. Again.

This is one of those rare moments where the solution is staring policymakers in the face. The EPA just proved that loosening restrictions can lower costs. The only question now is whether Washington is willing to make that relief permanent—or if drivers will once again be stuck waiting for the next “emergency” to get a break.

Because if there’s one thing Americans are tired of, it’s temporary solutions to permanent problems.

And this is one problem that’s been costing you money for far too long. READ MORE

Excerpt from National Renewable Energy Laboratory: Blending of ethanol into gasoline at 10 volume percent causes the RVP to increase by about 1 psi despite the fact that fuel grade ethanol has a lower vapor pressure than gasoline (see Figure 1). The low vapor pressure of fuel grade ethanol is caused by attractive forces between the ethanol molecules. The strongly electronegative oxygen atom in each ethanol molecule is attracted to the somewhat positive hydrogen atoms in other ethanol molecules. The attraction between ethanol molecules means that it has a stronger tendency to stay as a liquid and not vaporize into the more dispersed gaseous state. However, when blended into gasoline at relatively low concentrations the more numerous gasoline molecules disrupt the attractive forces between ethanol molecules and allow the ethanol to readily evaporate, raising the vapor pressure of the blend. Not surprisingly this increase in vapor pressure with ethanol is more marked with the lower RVP hydrocarbon blendstocks. This would be true with the addition of any component which raises vapor pressure, as the final pressure is a weighted average of the pressure contributions of all of the components. As ethanol content is increased above about 20% the vapor pressure increase becomes less, and above about 50% ethanol vapor pressure for the blend is less than that of the gasoline.

When ethanol was first permitted as an additive in gasoline at concentrations of up to 10% in 1979, its effect on vapor pressure was not regulated.3 In 1992, new EPA regulations (40 CFR 80.27) provided a 1-psi waiver for ethanol blends that contained between 9 and 10 percent ethanol. Most, but not all, of the state-set RVP standards also allow a 1-psi waiver for blends of 9 to 10 percent ethanol.4,5 The purpose of the 1-psi waiver was to support the emerging ethanol industry. At that time EPA believed it would be difficult to economically justify a separate storage and distribution system for the small amount of lower vapor pressure gasoline needed for ethanol blending, with the result that low RVP gasoline blendstock for ethanol blending would not be made available. 6 The waiver allowed E10 to be made with the same gasoline distributed as finished fuel to be used without ethanol addition. Allowing vapor pressure to increase also lets refiners keep volatile components in the gasoline. This is estimated by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) to provide a 2 to 3% increase in conventional gasoline volume.7 READ MORE