In 2007, Congress passed the Energy Independence and Security Act, which requires blending increasing amounts of biofuel in gasoline each year under the law's Renewable Fuel Standard, from 9 billion gallons in 2008 to 36 billion gallons by 2022.

As the president and CEO of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, Kris Kiser often leads the charge in the dispute over higher ethanol fuel blends, as he did when announcing a nationwide education and consumer protection campaign, "Look Before You Pump".

landscapearchitect Weekly sat down with Kiser for an in-depth view of OPEI's opposition to fuel blends with more than 10 percent ethanol.

"The fact that E-15 has been allowed in the marketplace is a very real problem," stated Kiser. "It's a big problem for us. It's a big problem for automobiles. The automobile industry has steadfastly fought it. Only two automakers had said it's OK for 2013 models."

The existence of these mandated fuel blends is an outcome of the Renewable Fuel Standard, which was established in 2007 by the Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act.

As Kiser sees it, an issue that has challenged the small engine industry in general is that the EPA's focus was on the automotive industry since they are the volume leader.

"Gasoline is made and sold for the automotive field," said Kiser. "Everybody else has to work along those lines."

This decision by the EPA, and the differences between large and small engines, contributed to the difficulties and put the small engine industry in an unenviable position.

"Testing already shows that outdoor power equipment and other small, non-road engines are adversely impacted by higher than ten percent ethanol," Kiser said. "The corrosive harm and damage on our engines should be a warning signal for other engine products."

The problems that the higher ethanol fuel blends cause small engines include dissolved plastic and rubber parts, failed fuel pumps, and more.

"When you change a fuel, you've changed the dynamics of an engine," Kiser said. "Ethanol is a solvent. If you've run an engine on E-0 for a while, you get engine deposits that build up and they stay in the engine. When you introduce a solvent into the engine and fire it, (the solvent) will break that stuff up."

Kiser also pointed out that fuels that are 10 percent ethanol and higher cause engines to run very lean, which is not an optimal condition for the long-term health of any engine.

Another challenge facing the small engine industry is having to develop and test engines on fuels that are different from fuels in the marketplace.

"They're having us design an engine to run on something that most folks don't have access to," Kiser noted. "They're running beautifully in the lab. We can build an engine to run on anything. That's not the issue. The issue is that everything that's out there was designed to run on something else."

And there is the long-term durability matter. Kiser stated that tests have to be conducted over a substantial period of time to get a true indication of likely outcomes.

A familiar complaint of opponents is that the law regulating the overall percentage of ethanol that must be used is not reflecting reality.

"For years, the common percentage was around five nationwide," Kiser said. "The refiners had to blend more ethanol because the law says to use more new fuel. When the law was passed, everyone assumed that gasoline consumption would go up. It peaked in 2007 and is falling ever since. We're at the blend wall right now."

Recently, the EPA proposed lowering requirements for biofuel use in 2014, cutting corn-based ethanol targets for the first time since the RFS was launched. This proposed easing had yet to be announced at the time of the interview but Kiser indicated that he expects a long battle. "We've all been in federal court since the day of the decision and we're going back again," he stated. "This is enough of an issue that it will not go away."