Are states and local areas allowed to have clean gasoline requirements that differ from Federal requirements?
A. The Federal gasoline requirements in the Clean Air Act takes precedence, except under certain circumstances where the Act allows states to implement their own clean fuel programs. (In the case of California, that is the only state that is allowed under the Act to establish its own controls on motor vehicle fuels). Right now, there are fifteen states that have their own clean fuel program, providing cleaner air to millions more people than would otherwise occur. Some states like New York and Connecticut have the federal RFG program, but have banned the gasoline additive MTBE which is used to provide oxygen in the fuel. Since RFG must contain a minimum of 2 percent oxygen by weight and MTBE is banned in these states, the oxygen must be supplied to the RFG by another additive. The only other additive that is used by refiners in the U.S. is ethanol. Thus, although it meets the federal requirements, RFG in states that ban MTBE is different from RFG in states that do not ban MTBE because
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