Georgia Commissioner of Agriculture Tommy Irvin is holding a couple of town hall meetings later this month to listen to comments regarding updating Georgia’s fuel standards for ethanol blends.
A recent article in Florida Today noted that state officials in Georgia and other Southeastern states, including Florida, are moving to alter fuel-quality standards that have discouraged refiners from adding ethanol to gasoline sold in the region.
Agriculture departments typically set the gasoline rules, and most of them in the Southeast — including in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennessee — are taking steps to ease their rules.
Standards can be relaxed without harming engine performance, officials say, and adding ethanol to gasoline could save motorists money.
A gallon of ethanol is about 40 to 45 cents cheaper than a gallon of gasoline in the region, which translates to several pennies cheaper at the pump for a typical gasoline-ethanol blend.
“That’s our goal. Give them a quality product, save a few dollars and be patriotic,” said Tommy Irvin, Georgia’s agriculture commissioner.
Georgia’s town hall meetings on the issue are scheduled for November 27 in Atlanta and November 29 in Tifton.