WASHINGTON, D.C. — The oil industry came out last week protesting the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ethanol regulations.

The American Petroleum Institute (API), an industry trade group, held a conference call questioning the EPA’s April 2 approval of the first applications for registering ethanol for use in making E15, a blend of 85 percent gasoline to 15 percent ethanol. The approval is another step toward the actual marketing and sale of E15 for use in vehicles as old as model year 2001.

Bob Greco, API group director for downstream and industry operations, was the main speaker at the call. He said testing to date shows E15 would not be fully compatible with much of the dispensing and storage infrastructure at the nation’s gas stations.

“As a result, adding these fuels into our gasoline supplies could result in damaged equipment, safety problems and environmental impacts at our gas stations – to say nothing about car engines – and it could even erode support for the nation’s renewable fuels program,” he said.

He went on to say it’s going to be difficult for gas stations to prove their equipment is compatible with E15, which is part of what has to be done before the blend can actually be sold. Different manufacturers of interconnected parts are the problem, Greco said.

On the same day of the call, the API released a recently completed review of studies it commissioned. “The results are sobering,” Greco stated. “An estimated half of the existing retail outlet equipment is not compatible with E15. Unfortunately, it may be hard for a station to know whether its equipment is or isn’t compatible, which could discourage many of the nation’s 157,000 gasoline retail outlets from selling E15.”

Also on the same day, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack offered his own remarks, in favor of E15.

“The availability of E15 will increase America’s energy security and spur additional job creation,” he said. “The Obama administration has an ‘all-of-the-above’ to promoting domestic energy security, and increasing the percentage of ethanol to be blended with gasoline will help boost economic growth while lessening the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.”

The Vilsack statement also noted the Renewable Fuel Standard mandated by Congress requires the use of 36 billion gallons of renewable transportation fuel by 2022. The Renewable Fuels Assoc. (RFA), a pro-ethanol trade group, threw its hat into the ring last week with a ‘”prebuttal” to the API’s contentions.

The prebuttal states some of the API’s concerns are legitimate but “many will be manufactured” in order to frighten consumers so the oil industry can preserve market share.

“Where legitimate concerns exist, such as misfueling concerns created by the partial nature of the E15 waiver, the Renewable Fuels Association has worked in good faith with all stakeholders to address these issues,” the statement reads. “The RFA has created a website dedicated to E15 information – www.E15fuel.org – a misfueling mitigation plan to help retailers avoid confusion and an E15 Retailer Handbook for gas station owners seeking to offer E15.”

For anyone interested in reading the entire analysis, it can be found at www.api.org