WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, Growth Energy Senior Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Chris Bliley testified before the Denver Regional Air Quality Council on the role higher blends of biofuels can play in reducing emissions of cars on the road today and improving air quality compared to regular gasoline.
“We understand that the Denver Metro/North Front Range area faces air quality challenges specifically related to ozone precursor emissions and appreciate the Regional Air Quality Council’s deliberate and thoughtful approach to strategies to address these challenges,” said Bliley. “As the region eyes changes to their fuel and a move to reformulated gasoline, we offer several comments on the potential to use higher biofuel blends to help improve air quality, reduce consumer costs, and grow Colorado jobs.
“As data continues to show, the use of higher biofuel blends such as E15 can help the Council’s efforts to improve air quality. In fact, the California Air Resources Board in conjunction with the University of California-Riverside just published results of a 20-vehicle study on the emissions of E15 with reformulated gasoline. The results show that E15 showed a “decreasing ozone forming potential trend”, “strong, statistically significant” reductions of particulates, as well as significant reductions of carbon monoxide. These are precisely the types of reductions that would help the region as it strives to get into attainment.”
Read Bliley’s full testimony here.
Background
The Denver metro area continues to face air quality challenges and is considering changes to their state implementation plan (SIP) including a likely move to reformulated gasoline (RFG) to help get into attainment with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) national ambient air quality standards for ozone (Ozone NAAQS). If adopted as part of a revised SIP, reformulated gasoline provides vapor pressure parity allowing E15 to be sold year-round. Today, E15 is available at 46 fueling locations in Colorado. Information on the Regional Air Quality Council’s actions can be found here.