Summer Gas Rules Take Effect Monday

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Summer gas rules take effect Monday, June 1, in eight southeast Michigan counties in the battle against smog.

The counties – Lenawee, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, St. Clair, Washtenaw, and Wayne – are prohibited from selling gas that exceeds 7.0 pounds per square inch (psi) vapor pressure through Sept. 15.

The summer-formula gasoline increases fuel efficiency and prevents more than 28 tons of smog-causing compounds a day from being released into the atmosphere, said Craig VanBuren, director of the Motor Fuels Quality and Weights and Measure program for the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

In a news release, he said the department will conduct on-site testing of smog levels during the summer gas season.

The program was introduced in 1996 in response to monitored violations of the National Ambient Air Quality for ozone, as outlined in the EPA’s Clean Air Act, in the Detroit area. If the state had done nothing, it would have lost some of its federal highway funding.