Energy group seeks EPA rule fix to bolster methanol as alternative fuel

An energy security group is urging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to revise Clean Air Act engine anti-tampering rules in order to allow conversion of all light-duty vehicle engines to alternative fuel ones that can operate on methanol. This comes as part of the group’s bid to boost reliance on domestically produced methanol from shale gas and biomass rather than on foreign oil.
The Fuel Freedom Foundation, led by Reagan-era EPA air chief Joseph Cannon, is not asking Congress to amend the air law, as the EPA has the power already to revise its regulations on anti-tampering. The regulations were passed to prevent changes to vehicles that would weaken their emissions controls. The EPA can fine an individual or company thousands of dollars per violation for making such modifications to a vehicle.
As a result, vehicle conversion companies could face stiff fines for reconfiguring a vehicle engine to enable it to burn methanol rather than gasoline, according to the Fuel Freedom Foundation.
There is precedent for the EPA making fixes to its years-old anti-tampering rules, which originally stemmed from the air law that prohibits, “any person to remove or render inoperative any device or element of design installed on or in a motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine.”
For example, the EPA last year modified the regulations on conversions for compressed natural gas and propane fuel vehicles. In August 2012, the agency finalized new regulations to streamline the process through which a vehicle conversion company can demonstrate ongoing compliance with air standards.
The Fuel Freedom Foundation will begin talks with senior officials within the agency and the Obama administration, including newly confirmed Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who is seen as a methanol proponent as a result of major reports he helped write that touted the use of ethanol given the nation’s rich supply of natural gas.
The group wants the EPA to allow retrofits of both older and newer model vehicles to allow up to 100% methanol. A methanol federal policy expert who is familiar with the group’s effort says even with last year’s regulatory revisions, the tampering rules do not allow for broad retrofits or conversions.
The group says a rule change could spur increased conversions to high methanol blends and increase the development of the alternative fuel from a variety of feedstocks including biogas, biomass and natural gas.
With slight modifications to a vehicle costing USD300 or less, a car can be made to run on methanol with no impact to vehicle performance, advocates say. The campaign to make the conversions possible and then secure the fuel supply will take a decade to complete, according to group officials.
(July 18, 2013)