An Unintended Consequence
Part of the problem with todays gasoline prices and shortages is caused by the phase out of MTBE. (Methyl Tert-butyl ether).
MTBE has been used in gasoline since 1979 when tetra-ethyl lead was banned by the government over clean air laws. Apparently the levels used between 1979 and 2002 were low enough not to cause problems
MTBE began being used quite a bit more in some localities because of the Clean Air Act. In order to comply with the Clean Air Act an Oxygenator needed to be added to the gasoline to make it burn cleaner. MTBE was used because it was less expensive plus we didn’t have the capacity to produce enough ethanol.
In fact even today we still don’t have enough ethanol even with all of the effort since 1992.
After the gasoline industry began using MTBE it was found that MTBE could contaminate local water supplies. Because of the liability the gasoline industry will no longer use MTBE which I think is a good thing.
The problem now is that there is a shortage of ethanol. Plenty of gasoline but they can’t sell it.
The behavior of Congress in this matter is shocking. Before they pass a law like the Clean Air Act they should understand the consequences of the law. It takes arrogance to dictate to an industry they don’t understand and won’t listen to. I don’t know if this is what happened but I can picture Congress listening to the enviro-weenies and just leaving it to the gasoline industry to “work it out” when they objected.
I think we can have clean fuels. But to do that you have to listen to the industry, not dictate to them.
So if you live in an area of the country that’s OUT OF GAS remember to thank your Congressman for screwing up the energy industry.
