Whoops! Shell’s newfangled ethanol blend was actually on the market five years ago

There was a big to-do on Wednesday, as government and industry came together in Ottawa to tout the “world’s first” cellulosistic ethanol-blended gasoline at a Shell station.

All the news came in a flurry, as happens with a demonstration that’s tailored to the media. The big news is that this is ethanol made from straw and other agricultural detritus, instead of making ethanol from food-grade corn that could be put to better use.

This was big news for Canada, and it made headlines internationally (okay, small headlines). But it was, um, false.

So why haven’t I seen any followup in the Canadian media? I just happened across a story in the New York Times that unearthed this:

MacEwen Petroleum, a small regional service station chain based in Maxville, Ontario … apparently beat the multinational giant to the punch almost five years ago at a station in downtown Ottawa. And it did so, it seems, using ethanol from Iogen, a cellulosic ethanol maker also based in Ottawa, which recently became half-owned by Shell.

When? Five years ago? Yup. The Times says it was a Grey Cup promotion, but the gas retailer continues to buy cellulose-based ethanol when it can. And now Shell has changed its tune, saying:

“We believe this is the first customer offering where over a month long period consumers can knowingly purchase gasoline with a 10 percent blend of cellulosic ethanol, and the first time it has been actively marketed.”

Sorry MacEwen, even though you did it five years ago, marketed it heavily, continue to buy cellulosistic ethanol all the time, but simply can’t guarantee there’s no residual “regular” ethanol in your tanks because your supplier got bought out by your competitor, I guess you’re just going to have to pretend that it doesn’t count because you didn’t do it for a whole month.

Why isn’t this a bigger story in Canada? It’s a world’s first by two homegrown Ontario companies, they were usurped half a decade later by a multinational, and it ties in with the freaking Grey Cup!