NAFA History

1960:
OPEC is formed at a general conference of oil producing countries held in Baghdad, Iraq.
 
1973 & 1979:
OPEC asserts its control over world oil prices by cutting production, thereby driving up prices and challenging the US's sole reliance upon petroleum fuels.
 
1978-1980:
NAFA principals and scientists working with the US EPA, industry and environmentalists are instrumental in securing the nation's first alternative fuel, "unleaded gasoline."
 
1978-1983:
NAFA principals were amongst the first to introduce "gasohol," a blend of 10% ethanol in gasoline. Seeking cleaner air, higher octane and less expensive alternatives, NAFA's principals develop methanol blends (a combination of methanol and higher alcohols). NAFA's principals receive the first US EPA fuel waivers for methanol blends (not MTBE) containing more than 2.0% oxygen by weight.
 
1980-1984:
Working directly with US and state environmental officials, NAFA's principals are responsible for and assist in introducing the nation's very first oxygenated fuels program intended to mitigate air pollution and smog. The program was successful and incorporated into the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments.
 
1988:
NAFA's principals participate in creating the High Altitude Heavy Duty Emissions Testing Center - the world's first testing and emissions research facility dedicated to the investigation of diesel and other emission effects at high altitudes. The program is now operated by the National Renewal Energy Laboratories of the Department of Energy (NREL) in Golden Colorado.
 
1990-1993:
NAFA is the only environmental and scientific organization to question the fundamental science used by EPA to mandate Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) under the Clean Air Act. NAFA was criticized by EPA and others in the environmental community for voicing its concerns. After the mandate, MTBEs production dramatically increased worldwide, eventually becoming the second highest volume chemical produced. However, it was later determined that, indeed, the EPA's science was incomplete, and that the use of MTBE was poisoning pristine underground aquifers. The unintended consequences of EPA's poor science have been felt worldwide with devastating impact. MTBE is now banned in New York, Massachusetts, California, Canada and elsewhere.
 
1994-2000:
NAFA principals conduct research in alternative fuel and after-treatment technologies that demonstrate increased efficiencies and lower emissions in gasoline and diesel fuel, absent need for major sulfur reductions. NAFA works in conjunction with Southwest Research Institute, arguably the world's premier engine and fuels research facility, to advance a diesel after-treatment technology.
 
1998-2000:
NAFA provides testimony and scientific input regarding the methodology and justification for EPA's proposed Tier II low-sulfur regulation. The stated purpose of the regulation was to reduce hazardous ground level ozone formation. However, NAFA believed that EPA's scientific assumptions (like those of MTBE) ignored the best available science, and also ignored inexpensive alternative solutions. NAFA feared that EPA's poor science would again result in devastating unintended consequences, similar to those of its MTBE mandate.
 
1999:
Representing the interests of individual inventors and small businesses, NAFA plays a supporting role in the drafting and passage of the Patent Fairness Act of 1999.
 
2000 to 2006:
NAFA sues the US EPA over the promulgation of its national low-sulfur gasoline regulation on the basis of poor science. A principal component of NAFA's suit centers on EPA's weighted use of just a single vehicle (that EPA modified prior to testing) to justify the need for a national regulation. Download PDF - SWRI Tier II Emissions report. NAFA found that the data generated from this single vehicle was "forced" and introduced into the record after it was too late for the public to provide comment. NAFA further claims that EPA intentionally ignored compelling evidence showing that its regulation would severely worsen ozone, instead of reducing it. EPA has delayed the litigation for four years. The first oral arguments scheduled before the US Court of Appeals in the DC Circuit on February 14, 2005 were cancelled mysteriously, and the case dismissed on a technicality. The US Supreme Court up held the appellate court's decision in 2006.