Re: [ihc] Octane selection

[John Hofstetter <hofs@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Aug 17, 2004, at 7:15 AM, John M. Adams wrote:

> John, is that due to the MTBE? What's the latest on that disaster? Are 
> they
> still on track to lose that like Davis promised? As I remember, it 
> came out
> of the pump smelling bad already, and only got worse if it sat. Not to
> mention the 101 other problems...
> John A.
I assume that the MTBE is at least part of the problem with our gas 
deterioration.  Davis set a date for the MTBE to be gone from our gas, 
but scuttlebutt has it that getting it out of the gas isn't going to 
happen for many many years, in California.

We Californians are already paying the highest prices in the nation for 
gas, and all that has to happen to get us off MTBE's case, is to 
suggest that eliminating MTBE would raise the price of fuel.

I've read that the MTBE is a byproduct from the refinery process and 
that putting it into the gas rather than ethanol has the side benefit 
(?) of getting rid of the stuff.

Gasoline with ethanol is apparently destructive of pipelines, whereas 
MTBE causes no problems with pipelines. Again, a factor that could 
raise prices.

We have, as you probably know, a terrible problem here in California 
with the MTBE contaminating ground water.

The EPA appointed a Blue Ribbon Commission to study the problems caused 
by MTBE and made some pretty strong recommendations, which the EPA 
watered way down to a number of pretty weak suggestions.

John

John Hofstetter
Ol' Saline
www.goldrush.com/~hofs