Obama Lauds Progress in Certifying E85 Pumps
Friday, March 23, 2007
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UL’s advancement in approving safety certification standards will help bring ethanol to consumers
WASHINGTON, DC -- In response to a letter sent this week by a bipartisan group of Senators spearheaded by Sen. Barack Obama, Underwriters Laboratories (UL) yesterday announced a year-end deadline to approve safety certification standards for blender pumps that carry E85. UL certification has been one of the few remaining roadblocks slowing the spread of E85 pumps at retailers across the nation.
“UL’s announcement brings us one step closer to giving drivers across the country the choice between powering their cars with home grown fuel from the Midwest, instead of imported oil from the Middle East,” said U.S. Senator Barack Obama. “America’s auto manufacturers and farmers are moving the nation towards energy independence through their innovations. We must ensure that the infrastructure and distribution networks are in place to meet the increasing demand for ethanol.”
On Thursday, UL announced “it expects to have substantially completed its research work by the end of 2007. The knowledge gained from this research will enable UL, through its accredited Standards Technical Panel process, to lead creation of a consensus standard for E85 dispensing equipment.”
Bob Dinneen, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, said: “Through the continued cooperation between our industry, the Department of Energy and UL, we hope to expeditiously bring to a close any questions about the safety of E85. UL’s certification of E85 dispensing pumps is critical to the growing use of higher ethanol blends.”
On Monday, Senator Obama was joined by Senators Durbin (D-IL), Harkin (D-IA), Lugar (R-IN), Bayh (D-IN), Nelson (D-NE), Grassley (R-IA), Klobuchar (D-MN), Thune (R-SD), Feingold (D-WI), McCaskill (D-MO), Voinovich (R-OH), Brown (D-OH), and Brownback (R-KS) in urging Underwriters Laboratories (UL), the world's leading product safety testing organization, to complete its certification process for the multi-product fuel dispensers that allow service stations to sell higher ethanol blends up to E85 -- an 85% ethanol/15% traditional gasoline blend. Several years ago, UL approved the use of multi-product fuel dispenser components only to rescind that certification on October 5, 2006, announcing it would reconsider whether to certify the dispensers even though there were no documented problems.