According to the Renewable Fuels Association, this year California will use 950 million
gallons of ethanol, and New York and Connecticut together will consume 500 million gallons.
The three states banned MTBE as an oxygenate in fuel, and ethanol is being used in its
place.
Higher fuel prices are leading refiners to consider greater use of ethanol as an
additive in gasoline. The energy bill that’s currently in Congress would require more than
a 50 percent increase in ethanol use by 2012. Pennsylvania, Massachusetts and New Jersey
are considering similar laws to New York’s, which requires ethanol to be used in place of
MTBE. Ethanol can be made from crops such as corn, although more than 60 percent is
currently made from sugars.
