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The Diesel Fuel Difference
by Kurt Hoehne
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While Congress continues to debate a plan to drop the pleasureboat diesel fuel tax, boaters must still deal with regulations on what kind of diesel fuel we can buy at coastal fuel docks.
Not only are we paying tax on our diesel fuel, in some cases, fuel docks may not have the government-mandated pleasureboat fuel formula we need.
What's the difference between commercial vessel fuel and pleasurecraft fuel? Here are some answers:
Low-sulfur diesel fuel is what goes into cars, trucks and pleasureboats. Low-sulfur fuel is not dyed. It is commonly referred to as "clear," although diesel fuel is hardly clear.
High-sulfur fuel is dyed blue. This fuel is restricted from use in recreational vessels and highway vehicles, but it may be used for some commercial marine applications and off-highway use, such as for farm and construction equipment.
Some diesel fuel is dyed red, indicating the fuel has been given a special tax exemption. This fuel is also restricted from use in recreational vessels, but it may be used in government vehicles and in certain commercial applications.
However, in the hypothetical situation of a pleasureboat pulling into a fuel dock that only has high-sulfur fuel, there's no real need to be afraid of the authorities swooping in from all sides waving citations. "We don't regulate boats, and I don't know of anyone who does," explained Paul Argyropoulos of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Fuel distributors are the ones who must be vigilant about their dyes. They are regularly checked for violations. There are actually few violations; compliance with new diesel fuel regulations has generally been very good.
This is not to say that you can, or should, go out and buy high-sulfur fuel. The Internal Revenue Service wants to make sure you pay every bit of fuel tax that is mandated, and it prohibits anyone from buying the wrong fuel to avoid the diesel tax.
In addition, low-sulfur fuel is much better for the environment and there is little or no sacrifice for boaters.
While you could probably get away with running high-sulfur fuel through your diesel engine if you had to, you should -- for your engine's sake -- do it as little as possible.
"From a mechanical standpoint, you don't want to be going back and forth between fuels," said David Adler of the Washington State Department of Ecology.
Switching between fuels could cause a variety of problems. For instance, the piston rings might swell with high-sulfur fuel and then contract with low-sulfur fuel, causing leaks in injector pumps.
For pleasureboats, which should be avoiding high-sulfur fuel anyway, it's better to use "clear" diesel as exclusively as possible.
There is some heartening news in all this. While the EPA can't quantify how much the low-sulfur fuel is helping to lessen pollution problems, it can say that all regulated and voluntary anti-pollution measures taken as a whole are having a positive effect on the environment.
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This article first appeared in the September 1, 1996 issue of Sea Magazine. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
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