Once his supplier mistakenly delivered a load of E10, a blend of gasoline with 10% ethanol, and Foster sent it back even though it was cheaper, said the report.
For 16 years, he has taken pride in saying he has never [image-nocss] knowingly sold a drop of ethanol. But those days appear to be over if he wants to stay in business. His supplier recently told him that if he wanted to sell regular gasolineby far the most popular gradeit would be E10 or nothing.
"It's not right," Foster told the newspaper. "I'm going to fight this tooth and nail."
The long goodbye for ethanol-free gasoline may be in its final stretch, the report said. It will snare dealers such as Foster and an unknown number of consumers who say they prefer pure gasoline, in part, because it delivers better fuel mileage and is worth it even if it costs more. Many of them also think their engines have easier starts and are smoother running with ethanol-free gasoline, even though there are studies that show E10 should not be a problem for most vehicles.
Websites such aspure-gas.orgtrack places in the United States and Canada where motorists can buy ethanol-free fuel.
Ethanol blends, mainly E10, now account for an estimated 80% of sales nationwide, said the report. With more ethanol being produced each year, it is a sure bet that pure gasoline is on the endangered list.
"I will never say never, but in the future we're going to pretty much be saturated with ethanol," Al Manato, manager of fuel issues for the American Petroleum Institute (API), told the paper.
The federal Renewable Fuel Standard has in the last few years required rising amounts of ethanol production, the report said. It calls for even more, until by 2022 it requires 36 billion gallons of biofuels per year, or nearly triple the current amount.
To help sop up the added production, the ethanol industry, among other things, has been pushing to raise the 10% ethanol limit for most cars and trucks.
The federal mandate has fines for refiners that do not blend enough ethanol, the Star said.
Foster, a Shell dealer, never worried about getting ethanol-free gasoline in the past, but Shell and other refiners are increasingly closing the option.
A Shell spokesperson told the Star that in the Kansas City area, the company was not selling much gasoline without ethanol. And, she said, it needs to further increase the amount of ethanol it sells. "For us to meet our extensive obligation under this mandate, we will need to blend essentially all of our gasoline with ethanol in the relatively near future," Karyn Leonardi-Cattolica told the paper.
Shell uses the Magellan wholesale gasoline terminal in Kansas City, Kansas, to distribute fuel, the report said. Because ethanol cannot be sent by pipeline, it is blended at the terminal. It can offer ethanol blends or clear gasoline. But "demand for our ethanol blending services are up in 2010 over 2009," Bruce Heine, director of government and media affairs for Magellan, told the paper.
Some fuel retailers and distributors are turning to state legislatures to keep the clear-gasoline option open, said the report. Kansas does not require that refiners offer pure gasoline. A measure that would have required refiners to continue offering pure gasoline failed in the legislature this year. Missouri continues to require that pure gasoline be offered by refiners.
But Missouri also mandates that retailers sell regular and midgrade ethanol blends when they are cheaper than pure gasoline. Ron Leone, executive director of the Missouri Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, told the Star that some retailers were finding a niche market for premium fuel without ethanol.
Much of the pressure to ensure that pure gasoline can be bought at wholesale terminals comes from distributors who deliver fuel to retail stations. If the distributors buy clear gasoline and blend in the ethanol they can get a tax credit. But pressure also comes from retailers such as Foster, said the report.
Tom Palace, executive director of the Petroleum Marketers & Convenience Store Association, said he continued to hear complaints about not being able to buy pure gas in Kansas. His group is considering whether to ask the Kansas legislature to take up the issue again. "If my board elects to go forward, you bet," Palace told the paper.
Ethanol blends have gained market share in some states, including in parts of Missouri, because of federal clean air requirements that ethanol be an additive in areas that need cleaner-burning gasoline. Demand for blends especially has soared when they are cheaper than pure gasoline. That has been the case in Kansas, said the report.
When Foster was first told that by June 1 he would have to start buying E10, he was convinced he could not do it. He said he would close the store before selling any ethanol or keep it open selling premium fuel. He is told that higher-priced premium will still be available without ethanollong enough to sell the business.
He said he still did not think it was right and wondered if the government should be sued for requiring ethanol in fuel. But as he has talked to his customers about what is happening, he has considered the once unthinkable, the report said. They tell him that if they have to buy E10, they would prefer to buy it from him. "If you can't keep them happy, why be in business," he asked.
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