Subject: BIOFUELS UPDATE: ***OIL MAJORS SUED OVER DAMAGE TO BOAT ENGINES USING ETHANOL
2008-04-08 09:34:29 EDT
***OIL MAJORS SUED OVER DAMAGE TO BOAT ENGINES USING ETHANOL
A lawsuit filed on Monday afternoon is alleging that a handful of oil majors knew that ethanol-blended gasoline damaged marine fuel tanks and engines, but failed to warn consumers of such results.
"The price of gas is bad enough, but selling gasoline that dissolves gas tanks is a new low even for the oil companies," said Brian Kabateck, managing partner of California-based Kabateck, Brown, Kellner and the lead attorney on the case. "The oil companies know this fuel is corrosive, but they're keeping consumers in the dark to pump up their profits. The cost to the consumer is thousands of dollars in repairs," he said.
After the 2005 energy bill failed to give MTBE producers limited liability waivers to protect against defective product claims, oil majors voluntarily switched from MTBE to ethanol as their oxygenate of choice. But according to the lawsuit, filed yesterday with the U.S. District Court, Central District of California, consumers were never informed about the differences between MTBE and ethanol and were not warned about the hazards of using ethanol on fiberglass marine fuel tanks.
The lawsuit, which is seeking class action status in California, is against Chevron, ExxonMobil, Valero, BP America, Shell, Tesoro, ConocoPhillips, Tower Energy Group, Petro-Diamond and Big West of California.
"Ethanol, while relatively suitable for use in automobiles, poses special problems when used in boats," said the lawsuit. "Fiberglass has historically been widely used in the construction of fuel tanks for boats. The use of gasoline with MTBE additives does not cause any damage in the fiberglass tanks used in boats. However, ethanol reacts with and dissolves the resin that binds the fiberglass together. This causes damage in two ways. First, ethanol weakens the fuel tanks when it dissolves the resins. These compromised fuel tanks must then be replaced. Second, the dissolved resin enters the fuel system resulting in damage when the resin sticks to the various parts of the motor. All standard resins used in the construction of fiberglass fuel tanks are susceptible to damage from the ethanol in ethanol-blended gasoline," the lawsuit noted.
The lawsuit outlines the problems that the plaintiff, Lawrence Turner, experienced when powering his boat -- which had a fiberglass fuel tank -- with ethanol-blended gasoline. "After filling his tank with ethanol-blended gasoline, plaintiff discovered that the ethanol in the ethanol-blended gasoline began dissolving the boat's fiberglass fuel tank, and caused damage to the boat's engine. Plaintiff was forced to spend approximately $20,000 to fix the problems caused by defendants' ethanol-blended gasoline. At all times prior to the discovery of the damage to plaintiff's boat, plaintiff did not know that defendants' ethanol-blended gasoline could cause damage to his boat," the lawsuit noted.
The lawsuit seeks to represent a class action, comprising all boat owners with fiberglass fuel tanks who filled their tanks with ethanol-blended gasoline from a California retailer, or California-residing boat owners with a fiberglass fuel tank that had to be replaced because of damage caused by ethanol-blended gasoline purchased from a California retailer.
The case is charging defendants with products liability, fraudulent concealment and violation of California Business and Professionals Code. "The [business] practices are fraudulent because they are likely to deceive consumers into believing that the ethanol-blended gasoline they purchased from defendants is safe for use in boats with fiberglass tanks, when, in fact, it is not," the lawsuit added.
OPIS contacted all of the oil majors involved in this lawsuit. Of those that responded to our inquiries, they said they were still reviewing the lawsuit's details or that they don't comment on ongoing litigation.
Additionally, the Renewable Fuels Association -- the U.S. ethanol industry's largest trade group -- did not wish to weigh in on the lawsuit.
--Rachel Gantz, rgantz@opisnet.com
Copyright, Oil Price Information Service
---
You are currently subscribed to opisethanol as: tomhenggeler@chevron.com To unsubscribe, please send your request via email to opissales@ucg.com To find out more about OPIS visit us @ http://www.opisnet.com
Advertising
Copyright © 2013-2025 WesternBass.com ®