E85 DOA? E10 DOA?

Anyone remember the good old days, when TTAC manned the barricades in the fight against federal subsidies to a corn-based ethanol industry that made little sense for anyone but the corn-based ethanol industry? Rest assured, we haven’t de-listed our “E85 BOTD” (Boondoggle of the Day) category. We’ve just been a little… preoccupied with that other call on the public purse emanating from the city whose motto is, ironically enough, Speramus Meliora. And while we’ve been away, the price of imported oil– and thus gas– has dropped precipitously. Even copious federal subsidies (.50 a gallon “blender’s credit” to start) hasn’t been able to shelter the E85 folk from that particular reality. In fact, E85 sales are pretty much shot. Kaput. It’s got so bad (good?) that E10 (10 percent corn juice) is now falling by the wayside.

Ethanolproducer.com (EP) is the bearer of bad tidings (for some):

“The falling price of gasoline is making it possible for many Missourian fuel retailers to bypass the state’s renewable fuels standard and supply customers with standard gasoline instead of E10. Missouri’s standard, which was enacted Jan. 1, 2008, requires E10 to be sold when the price of the fuel is the same or lower than the price of unblended gasoline…

‘For the consumer, it ensures that they are always purchasing the lowest priced fuel possible,’ [Missouri Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association’s executive director Ronald] Leone said. It also ensures small business owners and retailers are able to remain competitive with Missouri’s boarder states, which don’t have any ethanol standards or mandates.”

EP’s article chronicles the “threat” to E10 mandates caused by “price provisions” in Louisiana and Oregon. Of course, “once the price of ethanol drops below the price of gasoline, the standard will once again take effect.” For them. As for the rest of us, hey, at least we’re not required to buy E85.