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LSG Halo Spark Plug Enables the Downsizing/Ending of the Oxygenated Fuel Program
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There is a difference between conventional and reformulated gasoline (RFG or oxygenated gasoline that is usually 10% ethanol or 15% methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)). Both have less energy (BTU or British Thermal Unit) than conventional gasoline - roughly 50% less as to ethanol and 25% less as to MTBE. In other words, a tank of reformulated gasoline has 95% of the BTU's of a tank of regular gasoline while costing at least 3% more than regular gasoline. Particularly as to stop and go city driving, using oxygenated gasoline results in a minimum 5% less mpg while costing 3% more. So, at $3.00 per gallon, using 1,000 gallons of oxygenated gasoline per year to drive the same distance as conventional gasoline will roughly cost $240 more than using conventional gasoline (i.e., costing 24 cents more per gallon to travel the same distance).
The 1990 amendments of the Clean Air Act, which was largely based on 1980’s era studies, data, and technology, mandated the implementation of three (3) federal oxygenated fuel programs. By 1999, two of the oxygenated fuel programs had become a fiasco due to the post-1994 engineered improvements in gasoline engines accomplishing the same result as using oxygenated gasoline in the first place and the discovery that MTBE, which is highly carcinogenic, posed a major threat to the contamination of ground water supplies. In other words, by 1999 technology had matched, if not outperformed, the very purpose of implementing the oxygenated gasoline program in the first place - lowering emissions from gasoline powered vehicles.
With the demise of MTBE beginning in 2000, the oxygenated fuel program has become, in effect, a huge economically unsound and prohibitively costly subsidy program for the production and distillation of corn since ethanol is made from corn. Further, it is heavily subsidized by the U.S. Government (and by some states where it is produced). In addition, it has indirectly been a huge benefit to certain railroads since ethanol, which primarily originates in the Corn Belt states, cannot be transported in the existing pipeline systems. As a result of this situation, the Corn Belt states, the farmers therein, the refiners, and certain railroads all have a huge financial motivation for the oxygenated fuel program to be maintained. As a result, the politicians beholding to them have continued to maintain the status quo (i.e., politics no matter what the cost).
Due to the advent of the LSG Brisk Halo spark plug, the State of California is in position to fully remove the sole remaining technical basis upon which the EPA based its decision to continue to impose the obsolete prohibitively expensive oxygenated fuel program on that state (read further below about the California RFG program). In other words, use of the LSG Halo spark plug will render all three oxygenated gasoline programs technologically obsolete. Those programs are:
Winter Oxyfuel Program: Implemented in 1992, it requires oxygenated fuel (gasoline containing 2.7% oxygen by weight) to be used during the cold months in cities that have elevated levels of carbon monoxide. Ethanol, which is heavily subsidized by the U.S. Government (and in some states where it is produced) is the primary oxygenate used in this program. However, the price of ethanol is directly related to the price of corn and the cost of rail transport (i.e., it is impossible to keep the existing pipelines dry and water in the pipeline will reduce the ethanol content of the gasoline). The mid-west is the primary source of ethanol production (i.e., Illinois accounts for roughly 40% of all ethanol production in the U.S.).
Year-round RFG Program: Implemented in 1995, it requires the full time use of RFG (2% oxygen by weight) in cities having the worst ground-level ozone (smog). In metropolitan areas outside the Midwest, MTBE is primarily used in RFG due to it being less expensive than ethanol, its ability to be transported in existing pipelines (unlike the heavily subsidized and expensive ethanol), and its blending characteristics. In 1998, it was discovered that MTBE was highly carcinogenic and a huge threat to the contamination of ground water supplies. In 2000, the EPA recommended that MTBE be phased-out nationally. Soon thereafter, Connecticut, New York, and California moved to ban MTBE.
California RFG Program: Implemented in 1992, California adopted more stringent requirements for its gasoline due to its unique air pollution problems. In 2000, when the EPA recommended that MTBE be phased-out nationally, California correctly claimed that it did not produce enough ethanol to replace MTBE. It correctly argued that ethanol, which is more expensive than MTBE, cannot be transported in existing pipelines and was prohibitively expensive to ship by rail from the mid-west (i.e., a single major factor why gasoline is much more expensive in California than elsewhere). It requested the EPA to waive compliance with the PFG program on the grounds of detrimental impact on the California economy (i.e., permitted by the 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act). In 2001, California requested the EPA to also grant a waiver on the technically correct ground that the advances in automotive emissions technology accomplished the same result as the RFG program. However, on June 12, 2001, the EPA denied the request. California appealed and on July 17, 2003, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed the EPA and ordered it to reconsider its denial. By January 1, 2004, all use of MTBE in California had been banned with the prohibitively expensive ethanol being the primary oxygenate. On February 2, 2004, California supplemented its waiver request with new data developed by the California Air Resources Board (CARB). On June 2, 2005, after concluding (admitting) that the overall impact on emissions would be slight, the EPA never again denied California the waiver. The sole technical ground on which it based the denial was that "total volatile organic compound (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions are likely to decrease with a waiver while carbon monoxide (CO) emissions are likely to increase." See Figure No. 7 . Because the LSG Brisk Halo spark plug is the only spark plug in the world that substantially reduces all three emission levels - particularly carbon monoxide (CO) levels - the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is in position to assemble new data proving that vehicles using the Halo spark plug do not need to use oxygenated fuel to achieve lower emissions. |
Metropolitan Areas Using Oxygenated Gasoline
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| Congress required, in the Clean Air Act of 1990, that areas of the country with the worst ozone smog problems use reformulated gasoline (RFG) with an increased oxygen content of 2%. Seventeen states and the District of Columbia presently use reformulated gasoline (RFG), either because of the Congressional mandate, or because some areas have voluntarily chosen to use RFG to help achieve their clean air goals. Methyl tertiary-butyl ether (MTBE) is the oxygen additive most commonly used by the petroleum industry to satisfy the RFG mandate. MTBE is used in approximately 87% of RFG, with ethanol being the second most commonly used additive. Of those areas listed below, only Milwaukee and Chicago use RFG that is primarily ethanol. Areas Required to Use RFG Areas That Have Voluntarily Chosen to Use RFG. |
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Areas
Required to Use RFG |
Areas
That Have Voluntarily Chosen to Use RFG |
|
Los
Angeles, CA
San Diego, CA
Hartford, CT
New York City
(NY-CT-NJ)
Greater Philadelphia (PA-NJ-DE-MD)
Chicago
(IL-WI-IN)
Baltimore, MD
Houston, TX
Milwaukee, WI
Sacramento,
CA |
The
State of Connecticut (that portion not part of NYC)
The State of
Delaware (that portion not part of Phil.)
The District of
Columbia
Kentucky portion of Cincinnati Metro Area
Louisville,
KY
Maryland - DC suburbs and two other nearby counties
The State of
Massachusetts
St. Louis, MO
New Hampshire Portion of Greater
Boston
The State of New Jersey (that portion not part of NYC and
Phil.)
New York counties near NYC
The State of Rhode Island
Texas
- Dallas-Fort Worth area
Virginia - DC suburbs, Richmond,
Norfolk-Virginia Beach-Newport News |
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Clean
Air Act Required Areas: |
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California |
|
El
Dorado County (partial) 1
Fresno
County 2
Kent
County (partial) 2
Kings
County 2
Los
Angeles County
Madera County 2
Merced
County 2
Orange
County
Placer County (partial) 1
Riverside
County (partial) |
Sacramento
County 1
San
Bernardino County (partial)
San Diego County
San Joaquin
2
Solano
County (partial) 1
Stanislaus
County
Sutter County (partial) 1
Tulare
County
Ventura County
Yolo County 1 |
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1
Sacramento,
CA area was reclassified from Serious to Severe ozone nonattainment
effective June 1, 1995. RFG was required as of June 1,
1996.
2
San
Joaquin Valley, CA area (excluding East Kern County) was reclassified as
Severe ozone nonattainment effective December 10, 2001. RFG was required
as of December 10, 2002. |
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Connecticut |
|
Fairfield
County (partial)
Hartford County
Litchfield County
(partial)
Middlesex County (partial) |
New
Haven County (partial)
New London County (partial)
Tolland County
(partial) |
|
Delaware |
|
New
Castle County
Kent County |
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District
of Columbia |
|
Entire
District of Columbia |
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Georgia
3 |
|
Cherokee
County
Clayton County
Cobb County
Coweta County
DeKalb
County
Douglas County
Fayette County |
Forsyth
County
Fulton County
Gwinnett County
Henry County
Paulding
County
Rockdale County |
|
3
Atlanta,
GA area was reclassified to Severe ozone nonattainment effective January
1, 2004. RFG is required as of January 1, 2005. |
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Illinois |
|
Cook
County
Du Page County
Grundy County (partial)
Kane
County |
Kendall
County (partial)
Lake County
McHenry County
Will County
|
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Indiana |
|
Lake
County
Porter County |
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Louisiana
4 |
|
Ascenscion
Parish
East Baton Rouge Parish
Iberville
Parish |
Livingston
Parish
West Baton Rouge Parish |
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4
Baton
Rouge, LA area was reclassified to Severe ozone nonattainment effective
June 23, 2003. RFG is required as of June 23, 2004. |
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Maryland |
|
Anne
Arundel County
Baltimore County
Calvert County
Carroll
County
Charles County
Cecil County |
Frederick
County
Hartford County
Howard County
Montgomery County
Prince
George's County
The City of Baltimore |
|
New
Jersey |
|
Bergen
County
Burlington County
Camden County
Cumberland County
Essex
County
Gloucester County
Hudson County
Hunterdon County
Mercer
County |
Middlesex
County
Monmouth County
Morris County
Ocean County
Passaic
County
Salem County
Somerset County
Sussex County
Union
County |
|
New
York |
|
Bronx
County
Kings County
Nassau County
New York County
Orange
County
Putnam |
Queens
County
Richmond County
Rockland County
Suffolk
County
Westchester County |
|
Pennsylvania |
|
Bucks
County
Chester County
Delaware County |
Montgomery
County
Philadelphia County |
|
Texas |
|
Brazoria
County
Chambers County
Fort Bend County
Galveston
County |
Harris
County
Liberty County
Montgomery County
Waller
County |
|
Virginia |
|
Alexandria
Arlington
County
Fairfax
Fairfax County
Falls
Church |
Loudoun
County
Manassas
Manassas Park
Prince William County
Stafford
County |
|
Wisconsin |
|
Kenosha
County
Milwaukee County
Ozaukee County |
Racine
County
Washington County
Waukesha
County |
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