by Sean Nicholls (Sydney Morning Herald) … (Innovation and better regulation minister Matt Kean) Kean inherited a policy championed by his predecessor Victor Dominello to boost ethanol sales in NSW via E10 – a blend of ethanol and regular unleaded – at the pump.
The mandate was introduced by the previous Labor government, but sales rates were have always fallen well short of the target.
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So last July came legislation forcing more petrol stations to sell E10, introducing new rules for increasing its presence on the forecourt, new penalties for non-compliance and asking the regulator to set a maximum wholesale ethanol price.
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Extraordinarily, the 6 per cent mandate effectively means that 60 per cent of all petrol sold in NSW must be E10.
The new regime began on January 1. It was backed up since May with a taxpayer-funded advertising campaign aimed at dispelling “myths” about E10 being bad for your car.
But the most recent data from the federal department of environment and energy shows it has been a massive flop in its first five months.
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You also might ask: what harm is there in promoting the use of a fuel the government believes provides a genuine alternative to those offered by the major oil companies? READ MORE includes VIDEO
