[ST. PAUL, MN] – Today, Governor Tim Walz, Chair of the Governor’s Biofuels Coalition, and Republican South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem sent a joint letter to President Trump asking him to enforce Section 202 of the Clean Air Act that requires the reduction and elimination of toxic carcinogenic aromatics from gasoline.

Section 202 was included in the landmark Clean Air Act amendments passed by Congress in 1990, directing the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to reduce dangerous chemical additives in gasoline. This amendment has yet to be enforced, despite the development of a variety of cost-effective substitutes including high-octane biofuels.

“President Trump should order EPA to obey Congress’s long-neglected directive to reduce the toxic compounds in gasoline. By replacing aromatics with cleaner alternatives, the nation will be on the right path to cleaner-burning, less costly fuel. Any other approach is the wrong policy for America,” the governors said.

The primary benefits of eliminating gasoline aromatics are reducing pollution and increasing health outcomes. Aromatics are the primary source of carcinogenic air toxins like benzene, as well as fine and ultrafine particulates, which have been shown to be major contributors to asthma and other respiratory, cardiovascular, and brain diseases, as well as many cancers. This is an especially persistent risk for Americans living near congested roadways and those who use cars to commute, for whom these particulates are unavoidable.

The governors said that “[n]ow, there is an available replacement, and it’s time for the Trump Administration to follow the law and give Americans less toxic gasoline and the benefit of sustained, lower gasoline prices by replacing aromatics with biofuels.”

“We look forward to working with [President Trump] to help Americans achieve healthier and more economically secure lives, while further reducing the nation’s use of deadly aromatics in gasoline and replacing them with renewable biofuels,” Governor Walz and Governor Noem concluded.

The full text of the letter can be read below:

November 25, 2019

The Honorable Donald J. Trump

President

The White House

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue

Washington, DC

Dear Mr. President:

As leaders of the Governors Biofuels’ Coalition, we respectfully request that you direct the Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to enforce Section 202 of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. Doing so will require improvements in gasoline quality that will lower both toxic emissions and fuel costs caused by the use of gasoline aromatics. Enforcing Section 202 will reduce health care costs, ease stationary and mobile source emission compliance burdens, and help automakers meet fuel efficiency and carbon rules without increasing harmful transportation carbon and aromatic emissions.

Congress banned lead as a gasoline octane booster in the Clean Air Act. During the debate that preceded the vote on the amendments, Senators noted the enormous economic and human costs that leaded gasoline imposed on society. The Congressional Record is filled with pages detailing the parallels between lead and aromatics. The Senate voted 69-30 to direct EPA to reduce aromatics in gasoline to the “greatest extent practicable” as technological advances became available. The House concurred, and President George H. W. Bush signed the amendments into law in November 1990.

Now, nearly 30 years later, the average gallon of gasoline is composed of nearly 30 percent toxic aromatics in order to increase octane required by today’s engines. As oil prices have risen, aromatic costs have followed, with consumers paying the price. Aromatics are the most expensive, least energy efficient, and most carbon intensive and toxic part of gasoline. Scientific advances have confirmed that aromatics are the primary contributor to urban particulate matter — specifically aromatic aerosols, and nano-sized ultra-fine particulates coated with toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons — the product of the incomplete combustion of aromatics.

Automakers have now confirmed that advanced engine designs, such as direct injection, needed to meet the fuel efficiency standards, will make ultra-fine particle emissions worse. In fact, studies show that direct injection engines are also expected to make emissions worse unless fuel quality standards are improved. One practical and cost-effective way to reduce aromatics is to use 30 per cent ethanol blends to reduce particulate matter and black carbon emissions by 45 per cent, and hydrocarbon pollution by more than 20 percent.

The marketplace will deliver a variety of ways to reduce gasoline aromatics, including biofuels, as well as electric and natural gas vehicles. However, for that to happen, EPA must do as Congress directed: reduce mobile source air toxics to the greatest extent possible.

We look forward to working with you to help Americans achieve healthier and more economically secure lives, while further reducing the nation’s use of deadly aromatics in gasoline and replacing them with renewable biofuels.

Sincerely,

Tim Walz, Chair and Governor of Minnesota

Kristi Noem, Vice Chair and Governor of South Dakota

cc: The Honorable Andrew Wheeler, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator

The Honorable Sonny Perdue, Secretary of Agriculture

The Honorable Lisa Murkowski, Chair, Energy and Natural Resources Committee

The Honorable Joe Manchin, Ranking Member, Energy and Natural Resources Committee

The Honorable Frank Pallone, Chair, House Energy and Commerce Committee

The Honorable Greg Walden, Ranking Member, House Energy and Commerce Committee

The Honorable Ed Markey, Member, Clean Air and Nuclear Safety Subcommittee

The Honorable Doug Hoelscher, Special Assistant to the President, White House Office of Intergovernmental Affairs

The Honorable Francis Brooke, Special Assistant to the President for Energy and Environmental Policy

Member Governors

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