As widely expected, the Environmental Protection Agency announced today that it has postponed its decision regarding an ethanol blend increase. Saying it needs more time to study the issue, the agency stated that it does not expect to make a final decision until mid-2010. In its letter to Growth Energy, the ethanol lobbying group that made the blend increase request, the EPA appeared to be open to raising the blend to the requested 15% (the current limit is 10%) for some vehicles.
"Although all of the studies have not been completed," the letter stated, "our engineering assessment to date indicates that the robust fuel, engine and emissions control systems on newer vehicles (likely 2001 and newer model years) will likely be able to accommodate higher ethanol blends, such as E15."
The blend increase is opposed by automobile manufacturers who say that higher ethanol content will degrade engine performance in current vehicles.
Further details regarding today's announcement are available here.
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