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TAMPA, Fla. – As gas prices remain high, Florida <\/a>is taking steps to ease the pain at the pump.<\/p>\n The state is allowing the sale of E-15 fuel for 90 days starting on May 1, in an effort to bring down costs for drivers.<\/p>\n The backstory:<\/p>\n E-15, also known as winter-blend fuel, is typically cheaper but could come with trade-offs for vehicles and overall air quality.<\/p>\n Carolyn Lafferty, a student at the University of Tampa<\/a>, says she feels the impact every time she fills up her tank.<\/p>\n “It costs me $60 to $70 to fill it up, in past months it was maybe $40,” Lafferty said. “So that $20 definitely makes a difference.”<\/p>\n By the numbers:<\/p>\n According to AAA, gas prices are averaging around $4.04 a gallon nationwide and just over $3.96 in the Bay Area<\/a>.<\/p>\n E-15 contains 15% ethanol and is often cheaper by about 5 to 10 cents per gallon because it costs less to produce than petroleum-based fuel.<\/p>\n However, AAA spokesman Mark Jenkins says it\u2019s not suitable for all vehicles.<\/p>\n What they’re saying:<\/p>\n “Your fuel economy on E-15 is not typically as good, and there are only certain vehicles that are designed to run on it,” Jenkins said. “So, your vehicle has to be a 2001 or newer.”<\/p>\n During warmer months, E-15 can also produce more emissions, raising concerns about air quality.<\/p>\n The other side:<\/p>\n That\u2019s a concern for Tampa driver Jai Adams.<\/p>\n “I\u2019m not really a fan of that, so that\u2019s the downside,” Adams said. “I like the environment that I live in, and I want to keep it going as long as it can go.”<\/p>\n Adams says despite those concerns, high prices still make it difficult to avoid the pump.<\/p>\n “It\u2019s definitely been inconvenient, but it isn\u2019t every day,” Adams said. “You have to get gas to get to places.”\u00a0<\/p>\n What’s next:<\/p>\n Starting May 1, gas stations statewide in Florida can start selling the winter-blend fuel for 90 days.<\/p>\n The Source: Information for this story came from statements from AAA, interviews with gasoline customers and previous reporting on FOX 13.<\/p>\n Tampa<\/a>Economy<\/a>Florida<\/a> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"TAMPA, Fla. – As gas prices remain high, Florida is taking steps to ease the pain at the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239861,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[47,629,2159,115,135,137,136,628,16338],"class_list":["post-239860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-fl","tag-hillsborough","tag-money","tag-news","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news","tag-us","tag-us-economy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/vlcsnap-2026-04-20-22h54m38s313.png\")
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