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Peterson says year-round E15 legislation faces Senate hurdles, infrastructure challenges
The former chairman of the U.S. House Agriculture Committee says there are still headwinds facing nationwide, year-round E15 legislation.
Collin Peterson tells Brownfield he’s expecting legislation to have an uphill battle in the U.S. Senate.
“Senator Boozman in Arkansas and others in Oklahoma are very concerned about this and how that’s, you bridge that divide with a small refinery exemption and so forth and get past the 60 votes in the Senate, I’m not sure.”
Peterson says infrastructure is also a hurdle.
“We have the infrastructure in Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, and Iowa to dispense E15. Most of the country does not have that. And so even if we pass year-round E15, there’s a lot of places they won’t use it. So it’s not going to be the demand that some people think it is.”
He says there’s money available to build E15 infrastructure, but not everyone will take advantage.
Peterson says E15 is also not a silver bullet to fix the larger problems facing U.S. agriculture.
Unfortunately, the information on infrastructure is simply incorrect. Most of the equipment at the retail gas station is compatible and has been for a very long time.
Fuel Dispensers – Wayne dispensers are all compatible to E15 and their newer dispensers (since 2014) are approved up to E40. Gilbarco dispensers since 2008 are all compatible for E15. In 2011, they moved to E25 and released retrofit kits in 2012. They will soon move to E40.
Tanks – Nearly all UST made in the last 30 years are approved up to 100% ethanol. All steel tanks in service, regardless of age are approved for storing E15. All double-walled fiberglass tanks installed since the year 1990 are compatible with E15.Single wall fiberglass tanks since 2005 are compatible with E15.
Piping – All steel and double wall fiberglass piping since 1990 are compatible with E15. Manufacturers of pipe thread sealants (pipe dope) have stated that their products have been compatible with ethanol blends up to E20 for many years.
If stations need all of the above, they need it to simply continue to do business, not because of E15.