‘Winter Gas’ Law Increases Pump Prices

Gasoline prices will rise between 3 and 10 cents per gallon at the pump, but carbon monoxide levels should drop by 10%, as California’s new “winter gas” law goes into effect Sunday.

The law, which requires service stations to sell gasoline with a higher oxygen content from November through February when carbon monoxide levels are highest, has jacked up pump prices already, as oil companies gear up to comply.

California’s regulation--similar to changes mandated throughout the country--was spurred by the 1990 Clean Air Act and is the first consumer effect to be felt as a result of the strengthened environmental law.

“It’s the first big program to start, and the first one in which people will immediately notice the air quality benefits,” said Richard D. Wilson, director of the office of mobile sources at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The lower carbon monoxide level is not the only effect consumers will feel. With winter gas, consumers for the first time will see the direct costs of cleaning up the air, Wilson said.

However, the California Air Resources Board, which wrote the state’s version of the winter gas regulation, says California consumers have felt the costs of environmental cleanup for decades. The requirement is “just the latest ARB rule governing the makeup of gasoline,” board spokesman Bill Sessa said.

Unocal raised its prices by 3 cents a gallon earlier this month and may increase them 3 cents more to alleviate the cost of chemicals added to all gasolines to increase their oxygen content and make them burn more cleanly.

Chevron’s prices have risen 6 cents a gallon in the past two weeks. A Chevron spokeswoman said motorists could pay the equivalent of 10 cents per gallon more than normal because of the combination of the pricey additive and lower fuel efficiency. She said fuel efficiency could drop 3% to 4%.

Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Letter that tracks gasoline prices nationwide, said prices have jumped between 3 and 8 cents per gallon.

“To the degree that consumers see higher prices, I hope it’s the degree that we see our own investment in a cleaner environment,” Lundberg said. “If the public has any cognizance whatsoever of what the government is doing, then they’ll see we’ve supported cleaner air at our expense. If the dirtier areas pay a bit more, that’s market logic, too.”

Gas stations in 39 metropolitan areas throughout the country--including eight in California--are required to sell the new winter, or oxygenated, gasoline. These areas have yet to meet federal health standards for carbon monoxide, a pollutant that comes largely from automobiles.

Carbon monoxide is a byproduct of inefficient combustion. It reduces the blood’s ability to absorb oxygen and poses a health threat for people with heart disease and respiratory problems.

During the winter months, carbon monoxide levels rise for two reasons: Vehicles burn gasoline less efficiently as they warm up, and it takes them longer to warm up in colder weather. The result is increased carbon monoxide.

In addition, weather conditions cause concentrations to fluctuate, Sessa said. During the summer, the inversion layer is 5,000 to 6,000 feet above the ground, allowing carbon monoxide to be diluted. In winter, the inversion layer can be at rooftop level or lower, trapping and concentrating carbon monoxide.

Although the Clean Air Act requires winter gas only in the eight metropolitan areas in California, the Air Resources Board has mandated its sale statewide. California’s law also differs from federal legislation by requiring less of the additive--either methyl tertiary butyl ether or ethanol--in gasoline. As a result, it will lower carbon monoxide levels 10% statewide rather than the 15% to 20% predicted nationwide.

California opted for the lower additive level because it also increases nitrogen oxides in the air, another air quality problem in the state.

“In California, we are using enough of the oxygenating compounds to reduce carbon monoxide, but we are not using as much as EPA is using in the rest of the country so we can prevent increases in nitrogen oxides,” Sessa said.

Nitrogen oxides create air quality problems “to a unique degree in California,” Sessa said. They are the cause of nitric acid, which is part of acid rain, and nitrogen dioxide, which is an irritant to the respiratory system.

Because of the balancing act between limiting carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides, the environmental group Coalition for Clean Air gives the winter gas regulation only “cautious support,” spokesman Tim Little said.

“In other parts of the country where they’re in (compliance with regulations) on nitrogen oxides, it’s a good deal,” Little said. “Here, where we’re not in (compliance) on nitrogen oxides, it’s not a very good deal.”