Unfortunately, to varying degrees, a transition to one or more of these fuels could decrease vehicle range and increase the overall cost of the U.S. transportation system, particularly during the transition when infrastructure modifications would be necessary. The Clean Air Act stopped short of mandating the sale or use of alternative fuels. But the Act includes several programs that will require cleaner fuels and will open up the fuel market to nonpetroleum gasoline additives. These include provisions that force modifications in gasoline composition and that establish more stringent emission standards for vehicles in certain polluted areas. The oxygen helps vehicles burn fuel more completely.
Fuel additives supply the extra oxygen for oxygenated gasolines.
These additives are being used in about a third of the nation's gasoline, displacing 100,000 to 200,000 barrels per day of oil. The oxygen additive added a few cents per gallon to the cost of gasoline. Beginning in 1995, reformulated gasoline specifications include a minimum oxygen content of 2 percent and a maximum 1 percent benzene content. Heavy metal additives are prohibited. Overall emission performance standards for reformulated gasoline call for at least 15 percent hydrocarbon and toxic emission reductions by 1995 and at least 20 to 25 percent reductions of hydrocarbons and toxic emissions beginning in the year 2000.