#E15

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge today by major automakers and other groups to reverse the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision regarding E15 fuel.

The state of Maine is taking a decisive stance against blending ethanol with gasoline, seeking to approve a bill that will ban the fuel if two other New England states pass similar laws.

It isn’t clear what effect E15 will have on cars and in AAA president Robert Darbelnet’s mind, that’s enough to justify halting sales.

Ever since the use of E15 has been approved, rules and warnings against its use have been popping up left, right and center. Now a new mandate for the 15 percent ethanol, 85 percent gasoline mixture is causing more users to be up in arms.

The use of E15 was approved by the EPA back in April, which meant it was only a matter of time before the selling of E15 was approved. That time has come.

Debates around ethanol use have out-burned the fuel’s actual use since E85 started showing up at pumping stations in 2005. Most recently, a study suggests that E15 is likely to incur costly repairs in older engines.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has finally approved the first applications in making gasoline that contains up to 15 percent ethanol, known as E15.

The EPA will announce Friday that it has approved the use of E15 gasoline for vehicles made after the year 2000. The EPA previously approved the added ethanol content for vehicles made after 2007 – the new regulations would see the amount of vehicles able to use E15 grow exponentially, and directly benefit American corn farmers, whose crop is used in the production of ethanol.