Blockbuster New Book: GASOLINEGATE

WASHINGTON, DC - Set against the backdrop of the U.S. Capitol and the Nation’s Memorial Day parade, a new tell-all book was released last week. "Gasolinegate: What’s in Our Gasoline is Killing Us" is a first-of-its-kind expose about the 40-year struggle to break the United States’ dependence on oil and gasoline, and the negative impacts on public health and the economy.

Through dozens of interviews and firsthand accounts, authors Burl Haigwood and Doug Durante document the inaction of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and obstruction by the oil industry, which resulted in a stranglehold on the motor fuel market that endangers public health every day. Throughout the book, the authors document and explain how and why the public got duped into believing gasoline is safe and there were no viable alternatives.

Gasolinegate, published by New Degree Press, is available at Amazon, Kobo, and public libraries. Burl Haigwood stated, “We are kicking off our “The Buck Stops Here” public education campaign by discounting the eBook from $9.99 to 99 cents. This is part of our commitment to make Gasolinegate accessible to as many people as possible.”

Key points include.

• Consumers currently pay about $15 per gallon for gasoline when including total societal costs, e.g., national security, increased health care costs from pollution, the impact of climate change, imports, and federal subsidies for fossil fuels.

• The EPA has the authority, and dozens of opportunities in the past four decades to establish standards for cleaner, safer domestic fuels – but failed.

• Emails obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show EPA and Oil interests collaborated to manipulate computer models used to certify fuel emissions and set standards.

• In 1948 the American Petroleum Institute stated the safe threshold for Benzene is zero. However, gasoline still contains about 20% Benzene and other benzene-based octane enhancers.

• Brazil allows consumers to choose between 27% and 100% ethanol to fuel their vehicles. EPA regulations limit U.S. gasoline blending to 10% – 15% ethanol.

• $2-$3 trillion in federal and state subsidies combined with reluctance from consumers, oil companies, and automakers will likely force policymakers to delay current plans to ban internal combustion engines or achieve a 100% EV fleet. Therefore, consumers will need trillions of gallons of gasoline for decades.

• Innovative solutions to replace benzene such as the Next Generation Fuels Act introduced in Congress would create a pathway for High Octane Low Carbon gasoline blends using renewable ethanol, providing immediate climate, health, and cost benefits as EVs overcome the many challenges they face.