EPA maintains fuel additive requirements

EPA Administrator Stephen L. Johnson has rejected a request from California and two other states to waive requirements for oxygenates in gasoline.

State officials and refinery executives say the ethanol added to California's gas supply pads costs at the pump and can worsen air pollution during the summer.

Officials say ethanol has its place in California as a pollution fighter, but the federal rule forces the state to use ethanol even when it isn't beneficial.

"We're disappointed," said spokesman Jerry Martin of the California Air Resources Board, which regulates fuel formulas.

"We have no problem with ethanol - we just don't think that the requirement works very well in a hot climate like California in the summertime."

The EPA, in congressional testimony in July, estimated that ethanol can add 4 cents to 8 cents to the price of a gallon of gas.

However, the ethanol and the adeed cost will remain as the EPA ruled that California failed to prove that the oxygenate requirement "prevents or interferes with the state's efforts to achieve clean air."