ATLANTA,None — While ethanol enjoys government backing as a homegrown fuel alternative, some say it has harmed their vehicles.
PART 1: Could More Ethanol Harm Your Vehicle? PART 2: Auto Groups To Put E-15 To Test
Right now, four million cars registered in Georgia and built within the last ten years can handle gas made with 50 percent more ethanol, the federal government said. That ruling could bolster the ethanol industry.
On Tuesday, Georgia's lone corn ethanol plant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Ten percent ethanol became the standard Georgia fuel mix in 2007.
Backers say it means more jobs and less dependence on foreign oil. But there are plenty of others who said mixing in more ethanol means trouble.
Driver Donna Johnson shared her own experience in an interview with Channel 2 Action News consumer investigator Jim Strickland.
"I was livid," Johnson said.
She had just spent $1,000 to service her SUV after it sputtered and stalled in her driveway, luckily.
"I was so upset . The thought of me being on a highway with the car stalling out like that; it could have put my life in danger as well as my children," Johnson said.
She had previously taken her car to mechanic Tom O'Donnell.
"We checked the fuel pump and the fuel pump was bad," recalled O'Donnell, whose shop had installed the part just two months earlier.
He showed Strickland the dried remains of the slimy grunge he said ruined Johnson's pump.
"We've seen it happen with many other cars, including my own."
A new fuel pump on O'Donnell's Mercedes Benz lasted only 6 months.
"I think ethanol's playing a big part in this," O'Donnell said.
Popular Mechanics magazine said it's possible for ethanol to degrade. It "produces a tenacious brown glop," "damaging to fuel systems."
Alan Kidson specializes in German car repair in Roswell.
"We're probably doing between $1,000 and $3,000 a month in fuel-related repairs as a result of the ethanol blends," he said.
Oil companies are under a federal mandate to use 2 and a half billion gallons more corn ethanol within 5 years.
So the Environmental Protection Agency recently OK'd the ethanol lobby's request to allow gas with higher mix than the current 10 percent. They call it E15.
"We are convinced that E15 should be appropriate for use in all motor vehicles," said Bob Dinneen, head of the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group.
Dinneen downplays fears that ethanol harms cars. He points to scenes like those shot by a crew from Channel 2 in Brazil in 2009. Our video shows cars running on a 25 percent mix of sugar ethanol.
With $7 billion in tax incentives, Dinneen said E15 could be a nickel cheaper at the pump.
"The American public is clearly demanding solutions to our ever growing dependence on imported oil, and ethanol today is the only viable alternative that we have," he said.
Strickland interviewed an official with car maker BMW at the Detroit Auto Show.
Project manager Joe Wierda admitted their new and especially used cars would have to be adjusted to handle it.
"The problem could be such that a five year old car does not run well on E15 or higher. The customer's going to have to come in and pay for that."
Colonial Pipeline, which carries up to 70 percent of Atlanta's gasoline, said it won't risk pumping E15 through its system. The company hasn't even pumped E10 yet.
The government is still testing older cars, but pumping E15 into boats and lawn mowers is already banned.
With so many uncertainties, one of metro Atlanta's highest-volume gas retailers said it won't sell E15. QuikTrip issued a statement to that effect last week.
The Georgia Association of Convenience Stores sees a host of obstacles to E15.
"These pumps won't work with E15, that's first and foremost," said executive director Jim Tudor. He said current pumping equipment must be recertified for insurance purposes to dispense the new fuel.
"If we were to implement this without some significant changes, there's a big liability here for us."
The stores fear drivers of older, unapproved cars will be tempted to pump the less expensive E15 mix, and blame the stores for any damage to their cars.
"Until that liability issue is resolved, frankly, you won't see E15 in these pumps," said Tudor.
The EPA is working on a warning label to help prevent owners of older cars from pumping the wrong gas.
"We're not talking about a mandate here. We're talking about allowing consumers to use a lower cost renewable cleaner burning fuel if they so choose," said Dinneen.
WSBTV
