A bill has been introduced to the Iowa Senate to remove stickers at gas pumps identifying corn-based fuel. The legislation would allow gas stations to remove labels identifying E10, gas that is 10 percent ethanol. Each business would ultimately decide whether to remove the labels or not. State Senator Jack Kibbie’s goal is to increase the sale of ethanol blends beyond the 73% of gasoline sales it has accounted for over the past few years. By masking the contents of the gas, he says, more out-of-staters will purchase it.

Opposition to the bill comes from those who feel it’s unfair to the consumer to hide the contents of what they are purchasing. By removing the labels gas stations would essentially force consumers to buy gas containing E10 since they would not know whether the midlevel blends contained ethanol or not. Many gas station chains say even if the law passes they would keep the labels.