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LePage Orders State Agencies to Prefer Gas With Less Ethanol

PORTLAND, Maine - Maine state agencies now have a purchasing preference for gasoline blended with 5 percent or less of ethanol, thanks to an executive order signed by Republican Gov. Paul LePage.
 
The preference is effective when such fuel costs about the same as gasoline blended with a higher concentration of ethanol.
 
LePage's order says "federal mandates'' have increased domestic ethanol production and use, and that vehicle emissions affect Maine's air quality.

And by January, the Maine Center for Disease Control and Prevention and Department of Environmental Protection will prepare a report on the environmental and human health effects of ethanol emissions.
 
In 2013, LePage signed into law a bill banning motor fuel containing corn-based ethanol if 10 other states or states with a collective population of 30 million also prohibit it.