Prompted by consumer concerns regarding MTBE, TOSCO Corporation, one of the largest independent petroleum refiners and marketers in the U.S., has begun a six-month pilot program in Northern California using ethanol-blended fuels. The program is being met with significant enthusiasm by
California
consumers. "This gasoline we are producing will meet all of California's strict air quality requirements without the use of MTBE and will reduce the risk to the State's valuable water resource," said Thomas O'Malley, Chairman and CEO of TOSCO. In order to do so, however, with the state's oxygen cap, TOSCO must produce a specially tailored blendstock for ethanol that meets all of California's gasoline requirements while providing a dedicated transfer system that keeps the ethanol blends from commingling with MTBE-blended fuels.
