How Trump's Deregulation Push Could Change How You Fill Up Your Tank

Ethanol, the intoxicating alcohol found in beer, wine and liquor, has been powering automobiles in the U.S. since the era of the Model T more than a century ago. Since the 1970s, when oil became more expensive and subject to international disputes -- and as worries rose about the environmental damage caused by fossil fuels -- the U.S. government has used tax policy and regulations to encourage use of ethanol and other environmentally friendly alternatives to gasoline. Now, as U.S. President Donald Trump prepares to make it easier to sell more ethanol nationwide, opponents are raising environmental concerns with the corn-based fuel.

He plans to change U.S. policy to allow the sale of so-called E15 fuel -- which contains 15 percent ethanol and 85 percent gasoline -- year-round. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates air pollution from gasoline, currently blocks the sale of E15 from June 1 to September 15 in areas where smog is a problem. That three-and-a-half-month blackout period deters some retailers from offering E15 at all, because they would need to change pumps and warning labels at the start and end of each summer. Trump can order his EPA to draft a new rule that would waive E15 from air pollution requirements, allowing year-round use.