14 DAY TRIAL // A US state official revealed that Missouri gasoline stations have been selling ethanol-free products over the last few weeks, artificially decreasing gasoline prices to as low as $1.33 per gallon. Removing this substance from fuels is against the law, as it helps reduce pollution and protects the environment. Retailers were aiming for higher sales, and thought that removing ethanol was no "biggie."
Turns out that this actually is a big mistake, as levels of pollution in the area skyrocketed during this time. The Department of Agriculture is the one responsible for ensuring the quality of the gasoline sold at pumping stations, but its director of weights and measures, Ronald Hayes, says that he had no idea of what gas stations were doing, and that owners probably started removing ethanol to reduce gas prices.
Lately, prices in Missouri have been the lowest in the country, far below the national average, of $1.89 per gallon. While yesterday, in Chicago, gas with ethanol was sold by as much as $1.70 per gallon, prices in Missouri averaged just $1 per gallon of gasoline, which market analysts say it’s impossible, if the pumping stations were to use the compound.
"If the price for ethanol is more expensive than the price for gasoline, retailers can sell straight gasoline rather than with ethanol," Hayes explained in a statement.
Opinions are split on the matter, with environmentalists urging state authorities to force retailers to start reintroducing the alcohol-based ethanol in their fuels. Nation-wide, in 2008, all refineries had to mix over 9 billion gallons of the compound in their products, which means that these mixtures should have reached gas stations untempered with.
In the meantime, authorities find themselves in a delicate situation. While federal law forces them to ask for ethanol in fuels, customers demand that the prices be kept at this low level, seeing how since 2006, gas prices nation-wide have been soaring, reaching as high as $5 per gallon in some places. People say that they need a break, but environmentalists say that their "break" shouldn't come at the expense of nature.