that everybody is worried about, but what is
the most often asked about, the most
concerned issue that ’s facing your
membership these days?
GRUHN:
The big thing is just the
potential increase in regulations in
Washington. There’s a lot of ongoing
concern about unwarranted regulation, as
well as unnecessary increases in taxes.
One of the largest specific issues we are
working is related to the increase of ethanol
in our fuels. Boats and engines have a
difficult time already with 10-percent
ethanol in the fuel and the plan, to date, has
been for the government to increase the
mandate on ethanol to E-15. What most
people don’t realize is thatE-15 can have a
devastating effect on our engines. They just
can’t handle that level of ethanol. Ethanol
attracts water and can causemajor problems
for fuel lines, fuel tanks, and engines.
Proponents think E-15 is better for the
environment, which it’s not, and that it’s
better for these engines and fuel mileage,
and it’s just simply not true. Our members
are already seeing a lot of damage done to
engines with E-10, particularly those that
will sit in your garage or storage facility over
a winter and that ethanol is allowed to eat
through your fuel lines and stuff like that.
There’s another issue we’re working called
the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating
Trust Fund. It’s a user-pay fund, so you get
taxed on fuels that you buy at a marina, get
taxed on things like fishing licenses, boat
licenses, etc., and those funds get kicked
back into supporting the boating and
fishing industries. Every few years, the fund
is up for re-authorization and it’s a bit of a
process to get it done the right way. We’re
working hard with other associations in our
industry to push for a plan that works well
for all interested parties, including the
industry, of course, but also the U.S. Coast
Guard and the Fish andWildlife Service.
BUSINESS WORLD:
You mentioned
the recession from a few years back and the
impact that it had on the industry – are you
guys back to where you had been in, say,
2005? Or are you still light years away from
where things hadbeen a decade ago?
GRUHN:
We’re not back to where we
were, but the promising news is that now
MRAA
| BusinessWorld-
Magazine
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