10/23/06 E-85 Pumps In Question

E-85 pumps in question. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. E-85 may have a fight ahead to stay legal at service stations - as the Underwriters Laboratory has withdrawn its approval for fuel pumps that dispense any ethanol product greater than E-15. According to the Detroit Free Press website - a fire marshal in Columbus, Ohio has shut down two E-85 pumps because of a lack of UL approval. Justin Hyde - the reporter on the Detroit Free Press story - says the loss of the rating has put a lot of doubt in the industry. HYDE: It's thrown a lot of doubt into the ethanol industry. The UL safety rating is a requirement for a lot of fire codes at both state and local levels. There had not been a UL rating for an entire, shall we say, what's called a fueling system. There have been UL ratings for some components for handling ethanol in pumps. Earlier this month UL came out with a report that said it needed more time to study the effects of ethanol on such systems and therefore it couldn't provide a rating for ethanol pumps. That's left state officials and ethanol officials kind of in the lurch. There's a lot of conversation going on around the country about what to do until UL starts up certification again. According to Hyde - the Underwriter's laboratory did not base the decision on an identified failure. HYDE: You know the industry has not had any reports of problems from pumps failing or leaking due to ethanol corrosion. But Hyde says the engineers did identify corrosion - and want to study its long term effects. HYDE: UL's concern is that ethanol is more corrosive to certain types of metal than gasoline and they were concerned that they didn't know enough about how ethanol corrodes those metals over time to provide a the quality of listing that they thought they needed. The decision as to whether the pumps can remain in operation - according to Hyde - is up to fire marshals within various jurisdictions. HYDE: Fire marshals are in charge of; and other state agencies are in charge of enforcing these rules. It's going to be up to them to decide whether the equipment that's there meets those standards. According to Monte Shaw of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association - Iowa does not have to meet the UL requirement until 2009. He does indicate that this will cause some retailers to hesitate. Several states, and the Federal Government, are offering incentives to retailers who install E-85 pumps. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.