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Ontario Considers E15 in Environmental Plan

Todd Neeley
By  Todd Neeley , DTN Staff Reporter
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An Ontario environmental plan would require all gasoline in the province to contain 15% ethanol by 2025. (DTN file photo by Chris Clayton)

The Canadian province of Ontario has its sights set on making all gasoline sold there contain 15% ethanol by 2025, in a proposed "Made in Ontario" environment plan.

Washington, D.C.,-based ethanol interest group Growth Energy along with the U.S. Grains Council filed comments in support of the plan on Jan. 28.

"For decades now, North American farmers and ethanol producers have continued to benefit from tariff-free borders," the groups wrote in their comments. "With an existing North American supply chain, Ontario can rest assured that the increase in demand from a move to 15% ethanol will be met by this vibrant marketplace. Collectively, the North American industry is poised to assist Ontario attain its ambitious climate goals and to support this ambitious provincial move.

"We appreciate the ministry taking our previous comments of March 2017 and January 2018 into account and strongly support the proposal to increase the ethanol content of gasoline to 15% by 2025. As we noted in our earlier comments, increasing ethanol concentrations in fuel presents tremendous benefits to the public in the form of lower GHG emissions, lower levels of other pollutants, improved fuel properties (cleaner and cooler burning), and economic benefits to Canada's critical agricultural economy."

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Growth Energy and USGC also outline in their comments the state of research into midlevel ethanol plants in the United States.

"For two years, the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory performed extensive study and analysis of midlevel ethanol blends including E15 on engine emission systems," the comments said. "In fact, Oak Ridge ran 82 vehicles for 6 million miles before concluding that 'ethanol blends did not affect emissions changes over time differently than aging with ethanol-free gasoline' and that the use of ethanol blends resulted in reductions in carbon monoxide and non-methane hydrocarbons."

They said leading automobile manufacturers began approving and warranting their vehicles for use with E15. That started with General Motors in 2012, Ford in 2013, and "others soon thereafter resulting in 196 million vehicles on the road today that can use E15 without warranty concerns."

In addition, the groups write that "since EPA's approval of E15 in 2011, retail and wholesale adoption of E15 continues to grow. Today, there are more than 1,700 high-volume fueling locations in 30 states and nearly 100 fuel terminals offering E15 to consumers and fuel retailers alike."

The EPA is planning to release a proposed rule this month to allow year-round sales of E15 in the United States starting on June 1.

Read comments from Growth Energy and USGC here: https://growthenergy.org/…

Read Ontario's environmental plan here: https://prod-environmental-registry.s3.amazonaws.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

Follow me on Twitter @toddneeleyDTN

(TN)

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