Making people converts to the idea of ethanol, especially higher blends of E15 and above, is no easy chore. But many of the folks gathered for this week’s American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) 26th annual conference, with the theme of “Unite and Ignite,” seemed pretty united and ignited to fight some of the fallacies swirling around E15. Among those is former Amoco and BP oilman Vince Kwasniewski, now with GTL Resources. During last March’s ACE Biofuels Beltway event in Washington, D.C., he told Joanna that his message to lawmakers on Capitol Hill was one of choice for the consumer.
“E15 is not something that consumers are mandated to use. It’s not something that going to cause the disappearance of E10. It’s something that consumers ought to have the choice to use, and retailers ought to have the choice to offer,” he said.
Vince added that getting educated is key to having the best weapons in your arsenal when battling fallacies put out by Big Oil.
“Unfortunately, our opponents primarily in the oil industry and the American Petroleum Institute have a lot of money to spread misinformation, and it’s getting picked up by the press, not very critical of where it’s coming from and getting parroted back to the public,” he said, advising ethanol advocates to hit back with the facts. “Ethanol is energy beneficial. Ethanol has less greenhouse gas admissions. Ethanol costs less than gasoline. Ethanol gets no subsidies.”
Listen to Joanna’s interview with Vince here: Vince Kwasniewski, GTL Resources