RELEASE: Allow Butane Blending in Gasoline to Lower Pump Prices, Appalachia Energy Leaders Tell Biden Administration

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                      Media Contact: John Sutter

May 5, 2022                                                                                                                                                       412-427-7611

Allow Butane Blending in Gasoline to Lower Pump Prices, Appalachia Energy Leaders Tell Biden Administration

PITTSBURGH, Pa. – As Americans continue to face inflationary pressures, butane – a natural gas liquid produced in abundance in Appalachia – can be an effective means to lowering gasoline prices, the leaders of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, Kentucky Gas and Oil Association, Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia write in a letter to Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV).

The White House chose to only permit increased ethanol blends to reduce pump prices, despite the limited availability of the higher ethanol blends at retail fuel stations.

“Butane has always been relied upon as a historically cost-effective way to blend gasoline during periods of supply disruptions in the summer,” the authors Dave Callahan, Ryan Watts, and Charlie Burd write. “Most recently, the Biden Administration issued a waiver in the spring of 2021 when the Colonial Pipeline was offline, allowing gasoline blenders to utilize butane to increase supply and lower costs for the consumer.”

Today, butane is less than half the cost of ethanol per gallon and all 150,000 U.S. gasoline stations and vehicles on the road can handle a butane-blended fuel. If the Biden Administration’s goal is to effectively drive down consumer pump prices, permitting butane blends can be an effective strategy.

“We would respectfully request that the oil and gas industry be given the same opportunity as the ethanol industry and issued an RVP waiver through the summer,” the letter continues. “We believe that this is the most effective way to help lower fuel prices and would advocate that the Administration use all resources available to help lower prices, which includes the use of both butane and ethanol as blending agents.”

Click HERE to read a full copy of the letter.

###

Founded in 2008, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) works with exploration and production, midstream and supply chain partners in the Appalachian Basin and across the country to address issues regarding the production, transportation and use of clean, job-creating, American natural gas from the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. To learn more, visit MarcellusCoalition.org.