Florida repeals state Renewable Fuel Standard
31 May 2013
Florida Governor Rick Scott has signed into law HB 4001, the “Florida Renewable Fuel Standard Act”, which repeals the state’s Renewable Fuel Standard, effective 1 July 2013.
HB 4001 was passed by the House on 12 April 2013, and subsequently passed the Senate on 24 April 2013. The bill repeals the Florida Renewable Fuel Standard Act (ss. 526.201-526.207, F.S.), which requires that, beginning 31 December 2010, all gasoline sold or offered for sale in Florida by a terminal supplier, importer, blender, or wholesaler be blended gasoline. “Blended gasoline” is defined in the law as a mixture of 90 to 91 percent gasoline and 9 to 10 percent fuel ethanol or other alternative fuel, by volume.
The bill also removes the requirement that each terminal supplier, importer, blender, or wholesaler include in their monthly report to the Department of Revenue, the number of gallons of blended and unblended gasoline sold.
The original Act did not address retail sales of gasoline. In 2012, the Legislature clarified that the Act “does not prohibit a retail dealer...from selling or offering to sell unblended gasoline.”
Perhaps the methane that is being wasted in North Dakota will be converted into methanol to lower the release of CO2 and provide a compound which can be converted easily in to gasoline or jut used as fuel directly with methanol resistant fuel systems which existed in many race cars and cars in Brazil at one time. ..HG..
Posted by: Henry Gibson | 01 June 2013 at 01:19 AM
Hooray! Now I can run all my toys - mower, whacker, plane, chain saw, scooter, etc. w/o destroying them slowly w/ethanol.
Posted by: william g irwin | 01 June 2013 at 04:10 AM
Any state can make or repeal a state RFS, but they can NOT negate federal law. Florida has an abundant agricultural industry, just processing orange peels could give them plenty of ethanol.
Gasify what is left, use the CO2 from fermentation then synthesize methanol which can make DME which can make gasoline. It is Florida's right to repeal a state RFS, I don't know if the people of Florida think it is a wise idea however.
Posted by: SJC | 01 June 2013 at 09:55 AM
Ever think why we use ethanol in the first place? The main idea was to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.
Now, things have changed. We have working models of EVs and hybrids; some in production even. Also, we have production CNG cars on the road.
NatGas, of which we have plenty, is being used in new plants to generate electrical power, instead of coal. And, because we have lots of NatGas, in fact we are starting to export it, switching over to CNG as an fuel for current ethanol/gasoline powered cars makes sense. At least in an interim sense.
So, the plan will be to switch off of oil and coal onto NatGas until we can develop EVs that are practical and work similarly to how our ICE cars work today.
The key to this plan is high density battery packs. Battery packs that will provide "at least twice the distance of today's packs without increasing the weight of the car."
Posted by: Lad | 01 June 2013 at 10:29 AM
"It is Florida's right to repeal a state RFS, I don't know if the people of Florida think it is a wise idea however."
The people of Florida probably couldn't care less. What they DO care about is cheap gas for tourists to get around and spend money.
Posted by: ejj | 02 June 2013 at 01:59 PM
OPEC will just put the screws to them and gasoline will be $5 per gallon, then they will have no alternatives like RFS.
Posted by: SJC | 02 June 2013 at 07:42 PM