Acting EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler is “working very hard to find a solution” for the year-round sale of E15, said Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley on a conference call with reporters Wednesday. Grassley and Wheeler spoke last week in Iowa, where Wheeler met with other members of Congress and visited the Iowa State Fair.
Grassley also said that an earlier proposal that would allow refiners to earn the credits called RINs for exports is “no longer on the table” at the EPA. The oil industry has pushed to attach RINs to exports and allow them to count toward compliance with the Renewable Fuel Standard. Refiners must buy RINs when they don’t blend enough ethanol to hit their RFS targets.
E15 is a 15 percent blend of ethanol into gasoline; the standard blend is 10 percent. The biofuels industry supports the year-round sale of E15 because it would mean higher overall sales of renewable fuels. Under current law, E15 can’t be sold in summer in much of the country because it evaporates more quickly in hot weather, raising concerns about ozone pollution. Biofuel manufacturers argue that E15 is actually a low-volatility fuel.
“I think his people coming to Iowa and particularly the state fair, spending time in a closed meeting with a lot of agricultural leaders, [means] that he was very sincere in at least hearing from Iowans directly,” Grassley said of Wheeler’s visit. Grassley also said that he believes Wheeler wants to find a solution for E15 “a long time before next season,” although no specific timeline has been mentioned.
The Iowa senator said that the issue of year-round E15 sales came up in each of the 20 county meetings he recently held across the state.
President Trump expressed support for year-round E15 in April, saying the sales restrictions were “unnecessary.” In July, the president said he was “very close” to approving the year-round sale. In 2017, the House and Senate both introduced bipartisan legislation to lift the restriction on selling E15 during the summer.
Under Scott Pruitt, the EPA investigated for months whether the agency has the authority to lift the restrictions on E15 sales. Pruitt at one point suggested that the EPA does have that authority, but his replacement has so far not publicly taken that position.