Photo courtesy/copyright Pete Boden/Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.

Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), the nation’s largest organization of recreational boat owners, is asking its more than 500,000 members to petition the Trump administration and Congress to reform the ethanol mandate, also known as the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). In a communication to members, the Alexandria, Va.-based organization urged boaters to go to “Fix the Ethanol Mandate” on its website’s Action Alerts page to send a communication to their legislator in Congress and President Trump.

“Boaters must act now to get a fix to ethanol policy rolling in the New Year,” said David Kennedy, the Government Affairs Manager for BoatUS, in a press release from the organization. “Our members have an important role in this process and we’re counting on them to make their voices heard.”

In its communication to members, BoatUS noted that gasoline with more than 10 percent ethanol has been shown to damage boat engines and that a study by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory conclusively demonstrated that E15 (15 percent ethanol) damages boat engines. Other ethanol-based concerns listed in the release included the potential for misfueling and increasing difficulty in finding ethanol-free fuels.

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