Landscape Contractor / Design Build Maintain

AUG 2015

LC/DBM provides landscape contractors with Educational, Imaginative and Practical information about their business, their employees, their machines and their projects.

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42 LC DBM I n f o r m a t i o n R e q u e s t # 4 2 5 The Rise & Fall of Gas Taxes Ethanol Update Progresses Fuel for Thought U.S. congressional Democrats are pushing for a federal gas tax increase of 15 cents a gallon over the next three years to help fund a long- term transportation bill but Republicans are not only vowing that there will be no tax hike, they have introduced the Transportation Empowerment Act, which would lower the gas tax from its current 18.4 cents per gallon to 3.7 cents in fve years. Really! Advocating increased taxes, Dr. Alison Premo Black, of the American Road & Transportation Builders Association stated that gas tax increases do not cause a gallon of gas to go up the same amount as the added tax, but instead, on average, rise only 22 percent of the extra tax the frst day following an increase, and about 33 percent of the increase a month later. Yeah sure . . . And there is a bridge in NYC still for sale at a bargain price. In recent months, Kum & Go, which has more than 430 convenience stores in 11 Midwest states, and Sheetz, also with 430 locations but in six Mid-Atlantic states, announced plans to start selling E15 at a combined 125 of their locations. According to Ethanol Producer Magazine, this would more than double the current amount of E15 outlets in the U.S. The USDA is giving up to $100 million in grants to states for testing and evaluating different ways to market E15 and E85. State lawmakers in Iowa and Nebraska are promoting ethanol availability by providing funds to help upgrade fuel dispensers, replace underground storage tanks, and convert vehicles to alternative fuel use. Polls conducted by Harris Poll on behalf of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute: In what is being hailed as "prec- edent setting," the 2015 Ford Transit is the frst vehicle to be approved for the plug and play technology of Blossman Ser- vices' bi-fuel propane autogas system, which requires no drill- ing of the intake manifold, nor cutting/splicing of wires. State Gas Tax Changes as of July 1 (per gallon): EPA's Revised Ethanol Mandates: (down from earlier quota of 16.3 billion gallons) (down from 17.4 billion gallons) Idaho : +7 cents • Washington : +7 cents (8/1) Georgia : +6.7 cents • Maryland : +1.8 cents Rhode Island : +1 cent • Nebraska : +.5 cents Vermont : +0.35 cents • California : -6 cents 2015 : 13.4 billion gallons Rebates approved by the Propane Education & Research Council for new propane mower purchases ($2,000) and qualifed conversions ($1,000) during the double incentive period (Oct. 1, 2014, to March 31, 2015) 1,307 Incentive applications received by PERC since 2012 2,941 2016 : 14 billion gallons 1.7 billion gallons biodiesel 1.8 billion gallons biodiesel Of Americans say they are not sure of the legality of putting high-level ethanol gas (over 10 percent ethanol) into small engine products (by federal law it is illegal) 74% 1 Use least expensive grade of gasoline whenever possible 63% 2 Admit they check the fuel pump for any warning labels when fuel- ing up their cars at gas stations 47% 3 State that they notice the ethanol content on the fuel pump 23% 4 c - d e y - s -

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