The Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal that supporters hope will expand the volume of ethanol blended into gasoline in the fuel markets of eight Midwestern states.
The EPA’s proposed rule, announced Wednesday, is a win for the ethanol lobby and corn-state lawmakers, who have promoted legislation and increased pressure on the Biden administration to increase ethanol in the fuel supply by expanding the blending of E15, which is 15% ethanol.
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Under the proposed rule, the EPA would grant requests from eight states effectively to equalize regulations for E10, which is 10% ethanol and compromises almost all gasoline sold in the U.S., and E15.
E10 receives a waiver under the Clean Air Act to exceed federal rules that regulate smog pollution from tailpipe emissions during the summer months, when smog is worse due to the warmer temperatures.
Governors in eight states where corn and ethanol production are big industries, including no. 1 corn producer Iowa, along with Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin, all requested that the EPA remove the E10 waiver as a way to increase E15 in the fuel supply.
It would function by subjecting all finished gasoline to the same regulation, no matter how much ethanol is blended into it.
“It enables E15 to be sold year-round by nature of forcing refiners to make a much more stringent specification of gasoline, so that no matter what you blend with it, it meets [same] requirement,” one refinery industry source told the Washington Examiner.
EPA proposed to grant the request, which states are authorized to make under the Clean Air Act, on Wednesday.
The proposal would take effect in April 2024 and would not apply to 2023, frustrating ethanol interests who sought a more speedy approval and argued that the EPA was too slow in acting on the states’ petition.
“There is no question the EPA failed to meet the statutory deadline,” Iowa Renewable Fuels Association Executive Director Monte Shaw said in a statement. “Now they are using their own tardiness to justify putting off the E15 fix until 2024, leaving Midwest consumers to pay 15 cents per gallon or more than necessary.”
E15 is a blend much less widely available around the country than E10 but is more common in the Midwest.
Current regulations restrict E15 sales between June and Sept. 15 to limit emissions of smog-causing volatile organic compounds stemming from combustion of the corn-based fuel, although some cities are excepted from the rules.
President Joe Biden turned to E15 last spring, ordering the EPA to lift restrictions on its sale nationwide, as a way to lower retail gasoline prices after they rose following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the related spike in oil prices. E15 is cheaper than E10.
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The decision resurrected a long-standing fight between ethanol interests and independent fuel refiners, who argue the Renewable Fuel Standard makes gasoline more expensive due to the high costs of compliance.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misstated the nature of the proposal as one that lifted restrictions on E15 blends. The Washington Examiner regrets the error.
