In a step coinciding with an ethanol conference in Iowa, midwestern lawmakers filed bills in the House and Senate to allow year-round sales of gasoline that is a 15 percent, or higher, blend of corn ethanol. The bills would override a U.S. appeals court ruling on July 2 against summertime sales of E15.
The bills, backed by the biofuels industry and the National Corn Growers Association, would give higher blends of ethanol the same waiver from a fuel volatility measurement that was given years ago to gasoline that is 10 percent ethanol, the traditional blend.
“My legislation will ensure consumers continue to have access to higher ethanol blends at the pump and that E15 can be sold year-round,” said Sen. Deb Fischer, a Nebraska Republican and one of a dozen sponsors of the Senate bill. Iowa Rep. Cindy Axne, a Democratic co-chair of the House Biofuels Caucus, said that “this necessary legislation” would “make clear that EPA has the authority to approve year-round E15.”
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the EPA, in approving year-round sales of E15, had distorted the “plain text” of a statute granting E10 a waiver from the so-called Reid vapor pressure rule. The EPA decided that language about fuel containing 10 percent ethanol meant containing “at least” 10 percent ethanol. The three-judge appellate panel, ruling unanimously that the EPA had exceeded its authority, vacated the rule.
Ethanol makers are exploring “all available options” for year-round E15, said Geoff Cooper, chief executive of the Renewable Fuels Association, at the Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Des Moines. “In addition to pursuing a re-hearing in the D.C. Circuit or an appeal to the Supreme Court, the EPA could explore other potential regulatory work-arounds that would allow retailers to continue selling E15 all year long.”
Cooper said ethanol was a cleaner-burning fuel than gasoline and should be included in state or federal low-carbon fuel standards to mitigate climate change. “Clearly, we are already on our way to ‘net zero’ with ethanol,” he said.