Local Ethanol
If you are a Northwest Oregon driver, your tanks are now filled with blended fuel that is 10% ethanol. In case you missed it, the Oregon Legislature's HB 2210 required a 10% ethanol blend in nine Northwest Oregon counties beginning January 15, 2008. Nine more counties join the requirement on April 15. By September 16, only airplane fuel will not be required to be an ethanol blend in Oregon.
While the ethanol additive may help the environment, reduce dependency on foreign oil and lower pump prices, an indisputable benefit is that most of the ethanol needed to supply our stock will be produced in Oregon. Pacific Ethanol's Boardman facility, which began production last August, is slated to produce 40 million gallons of ethanol a year.
