Refineries only produce ethanol-free gasoline. To keep water concentration down, gasoline is neither piped or stored in a blended form at the fuel dump (the fuel warehouse). It splash mixed (temp-corrected volumetric measurement) just before being loaded into fuel trucks
If a Marina is pedaling pump gas, the marina owner most likely does it to increase his/her margins. Maybe they bought a deal, split a load with a buddy to save on transport charges knowing consumers might not don't know or care. It's very unlikely availability was an issue.
I don't believe there is any legal obligation for any refinery to provide ethanol free gas, it was produced and distributed because there was a demand for it at the major retail level - Shell, Canadian Tire, and at various points, others.
All of those are gone now, so I have a hard time believing that they're going to send
dedicated tankers from the tank farms to every little marina dotted across the province - those marinas were being filled up as the tankers completed their routes and supplied the eth free premium to other local stations as well.
In addition, as I understand it and have heard explained elsewhere (see citation below), the way the laws are written with regards to ethanol content, SUPPLIERS (so at the refinery/tank farm level) need to maintain a
minimum 5% average ethanol content across all their fuel sold by volume, which is one of the reasons many are now adding it to premium whereas before they weren't - by selling X thousands of liters of fuel without ethanol before, they were forced to increase the volume of ethanol in their other fuels to maintain that average, and the standard 10% that most stations follow now was starting to become a problem and they were going to have to start selling 15% to maintain that
average that they legally need to follow.
Welcome to the new e-Laws. It’s now easier than ever to find Ontario laws. We welcome your feedback.
www.ontario.ca
The easier solution? Stop providing it and there's no worry about those averages anymore, they just put that minimum legally required 5% in all their fuels now across the board, and that's that - it makes their lives easier. Producers already hate ethanol as it is, I'm sure the less they have to fuss with it and the easier their lives can be with the whole situation, the better..
So the summer will tell the tale, but I'm struggling to believe, as mentioned above, that if there are literally no big retailers calling for no ethanol fuel anymore and having it trucked around the countryside by tanker getting delivered, that marinas are going to get special treatment.