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Highlands Today

Boat Owner Alleges Ethanol Damage In Lawsuit

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By GARY PINNELL

Highlands Today

Published: August 15, 2008

SEBRING - A Highlands County man has sued five of the nation's biggest oil companies, alleging one sold 10 percent ethanol fuel that damaged his boat's engine.

Erick Kelecseny contacted the Fort Lauderdale personal injury law firm Kopelowitz Ostrow, who filed suit Aug. 12 in U.S. District Court. They allege that Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP America, Shell and ConocoPhillips know about the problems ethanol causes to causes boats, but continue to market blended gasoline to the marine industry.

Kelecseny seeks punitive damages and class-action status to include all Florida boat owners whose vessels were damaged by the blended gas.

According to an April 9 story carried on Dow Jones newswires, another federal class action lawsuit filed in Los Angeles has charged ExxonMobil, Chevron, BP, Shell and other oil companies are selling ethanol blended gasoline that damages marine fuel tanks, engines and other components.

"The oil companies know this fuel is corrosive, but they're keeping consumers in the dark to pump up their profits," said Brian Kabateck, lead attorney on the case. "The cost to the consumer is thousands of dollars in repairs."

The California suit seeks to represent owners of boats with fiberglass tanks who fueled their tanks with ethanol blended gasoline.

"They're a couple of years ahead of us," said Kelecseny's attorney, Jeff Ostrow. "California has been using ethanol for a couple of years longer, so their problems are more widespread and more known."

"Ethanol is not particularly well suited for marine applications," said Ostrow's associate, David Ferguson. "Particularly for fiberglass tanks."

What happened, Ferguson alleged in a telephone conversation Wednesday, is that the ethanol in the fuel that Kelecseny bought disintegrated the resins in the fiberglass tank. Those resins were sucked through the fuel system, and fouled the engine.

"We have the tank," said Ferguson. "Mechanics have taken it and could see the damage to the tank."

Ferguson isn't alleging specific damages in Kelecseny's case. "We're not looking for $1,500 or $10,000 to repair the engine or the boat. We're looking for the approval of a class, so that whether people spent $100 or $30,000, they can get compensated.

"And we want adequate warnings to go out to everyone," Ostrow said.

Currently, the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Affairs insists that gasoline pumps are labeled if the fuel contains 10 percent ethanol.

"Our advice to everybody, where it's boats or cars or lawn mower engines, is to check your manual," said Terry McElroy, a spokesman for the agriculture department. "Make sure E-10 is suitable for your engine, because it may or not be appropriate for all engines."

Some pre-1980s automobiles, for instance, cannot tolerate ethanol, he said.

Ostrow said a consumer warning label on the pump is not required in Florida to warn 10 percent ethanol.

Consumers, Ostrow said, "have no idea when they roll up to the pump with a boat on a trailer that ethanol can eat at the engine and the fuel lines.

The Problem With Ethanol

Ethanol is touted as a miracle fuel that will save the environment from global warning, but Internet reports show complaints that the gasoline blend retains water, dissolves plastic fuel lines, and gums carburetors.

Since ethanol burns more quickly than gasoline, it may also get fewer miles per gallon in some cars. Consumer Reports says a Chevy Tahoe's mileage dropped from 14 to 10 mpg.

"Ethanol can dissolve some solid materials," says a June 2006 Yamaha advisory to dealers. That includes varnish and rust on steel and corrosion on aluminum tanks. The result is contaminated fuel.

"Some fuel tanks and fuel lines are made of plastic, and ethanol is eating away at the plastic," Jimmi Fredricks, service manager at Freedom Marine in Lake Placid, said for a previous Highlands Today article published in June. "It turns into a jelly, and when you get to the bottom of the fuel tank, it starts sucking it in."

"Fiberglass is the worst. If you have a fiberglass tank, you need to replace the tank. Get it out of there," Fredricks said. Engineers, who have been dealing with the ethanol problem for two years, are now starting to retrofit fuel systems with plastic that can't be dissolved by alcohol.

Ask any painter: alcohol is an excellent paint stripper. It breaks off old varnish, gums, and resin deposited by years of gasoline sitting around in tanks.

But then it turns into sticky goo, plugs filters, sticks up carburetors and fuel injectors, and causes everything from mild drops in performance to complete engine shutdown, says Matthew A. Cohen, writing for teamrsm.com.

"The ethanol found in those states' gasoline supply can cause thousands of dollars in damage to the boats," Cohen wrote. "Ethanol eventually pulls gums, resins and debris out of the tanks and into the engine."

Gary Pinnell can be reached at gpinnell@highlandstoday.com or 863 386-5828

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