The American Petroleum Institute issued a “warning” to Kansas drivers to not use E15 now being sold at a Zarco 66 station in Lawrence, Kansas. This “warning” is based on a highly questionable study funded by API and other oil interests in which some vehicles failed testing, including tests conducted on old fashioned gasoline not containing ethanol.

The protocols involved in this study were questionable enough to draw a harsh rebuke from the U.S. Department of Energy which conducted more than 6 million miles of testing on E15 and found no problems for vehicles built in model year 2001 and newer.

“If you take the argument of API and other biofuel critics to its logical conclusion, based on the study they cite, they should be warning Americans against using so-'called 'clear gasoline' as well given that vehicles failed in their limited testing on that fuel also,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen. “Of course, that would be unrealistic to expect from the nation's refiners. Equally unrealistic is the smear campaign and fear mongering that is going on surrounding the introduction of E15 into the market. The fact remains that E15 has been the most thoroughly tested fuel in American history and ethanol has been a safe and effective fuel component in wide use for more than three decades. It’s time to move past the nonsense and constructively work to bring Americans the choice at the pump they want and deserve. Such a choice is beginning in Lawrence with E15.”

In its first full day of sales, the Zarco 66 station reported E15 sales were 16% of its total unleaded gasoline sales.