As a gateway to year-round sales of E15 gasoline, Congress should adjust air pollution laws so they apply equally to all blends of ethanol, said groups ranging from the oil industry and fuel retailers to farmers and biofuel makers. In a joint letter Tuesday, the groups said the waiver would resolve the long-running debate over summertime sales of E15, a richer blend of ethanol in gasoline than the traditional 10 percent.
President Biden issued an emergency waiver in April to allow year-round sale of E15, an interim step following an appellate court ruling against a Trump-era decision allowing E15 in the summer. A permanent solution has not been reached.
“Our groups have come together — for the first time ever — to support legislation that would resolve this issue once and for all,” said 11 groups that included the American Petroleum Institute, five farm groups, two biofuel groups, two trade groups for fuel retailers and one fuel-marketers group.
The groups said Congress should extend to all ethanol blends the allowance now given to E10 for fuel volatility during the summer and at the same time eliminate the power of states to ask the EPA to revoke the allowance for E10 sales within their borders. Nine states in the Midwest and Plains have petitioned the EPA for that change, which would allow E15 sales year-round but also require petroleum refiners to adjust the volatility of gasoline sold in some states but not others.
“In the absence of such legislation, we could see gasoline marketplace uncertainty and political disputes over E15 continue to resurface every summer,” the groups told congressional leaders.