But Erin Roth, a Wisconsin representative of oil producers, said those developments don't necessarily mean higher prices for the Milwaukee and Chicago markets. But it is unlikely that demand elsewhere in the country would deplete Midwest RFG, he said, because Chicago-Milwaukee RFG is specially refined to be blended later with ethanol. Only a few other areas of the country blend even some of their RFG with ethanol. The fuel represents about one-third of U.S. demand. The dip in RFG supplies is not expected to affect prices within the next few days, including the looming Friday-Monday Memorial Day weekend.
Demand is high, but imports are coming in at a high rate, so supplies keep on rising.
The bad news for motorists planning trips for the holiday weekend is that gas prices are still high - 23 cents a gallon more than they were in Wisconsin on this date a year ago. As of Wednesday, Wisconsin's gas prices were the fifth-highest in the nation, trailing California, Hawaii, Illinois and North Dakota, in that order, according to the American Automobile Association. Congressmen Green and Ryan said their proposed study by the federal Environmental Protection Agency of consolidating boutique fuels would take four months after passage of their bill, so it could not affect prices this summer. The study should recommend regional boundaries and the types of fuel to be required in each, the congressmen said. They said they believed that any Midwest gas should continue to contain ethanol, both because of its anti-pollution qualities and because it is produced from corn grown by Midwestern farmers.