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EPA again will allow summer sales of higher ethanol blend
Iowa ag secretary: ‘We continue to need a permanent federal solution’
The Gazette
Apr. 19, 2024 1:45 pm
For the third summer in a row, the Biden administration will waive regulations to allow summertime sales of E15 gasoline — a higher blend of ethanol than typically used — amid pressure from renewable fuels trade groups, agricultural interests and Midwestern politicians.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in an announcement Friday, said E15 is about 25 cents cheaper per gallon than E10, the most common fuel that blends gasoline with 10 percent ethanol. However, summertime sales of E15 are prohibited in about two-thirds of the country over concerns about air pollution. For drivers, the ban would have gone into effect starting June 1.
This is the third summer the Biden administration has waived the rule, citing the war in Ukraine — but this time, also uncertainty in the Middle East — as justification.
“Russia’s unjustified, unprovoked, and unconscionable war against Ukraine, and its ongoing destructive military campaign, has had a profound impact on global and domestic energy markets for years now,” EPA Secretary Michael Regan wrote to the nation’s governors Friday. “More recently, conflict in the Middle East has put additional pressure on global energy supply chains.”
After pressure from Midwestern governors, including Iowa’s Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, the Biden administration agreed in February to allow year-round sales of E15 in eight Midwestern states: Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Those states are home to much of the nation's ethanol production. About half of Iowa’s corn crop each year goes to make ethanol.
But that year-round rule doesn’t take effect until 2025. The EPA said refiners needed the time to prepare for year-round sales.
Still, most of the nation would continue to ban summertime sales unless the EPA issues waivers each year — unless the policy is changed. While the sale of E15 is more pronounced in the Midwest, only about 20 percent of the nation’s gas stations offer it.
“While today’s announcement is welcome news, the Biden Administration should have never allowed this decision to get to the point of needing yet another emergency waiver,” said a statement Friday from Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, a Republican. “Iowa drivers and fuel retailers have been needlessly subjected to uncertainty about the availability of this more affordable option at a time when inflation is running hot, oil prices are rising and global events are producing turmoil. … (W) e continue to need a permanent federal solution that allows every driver, every day, in every state to save money with E15, and I will continue to work with the Governor and our delegation in Washington to push that plan forward.”
Why summertime sales of E15 are banned in much of the country is a remnant of an arcane energy policy, according to a 2022 article written by Aaron Smith, professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California-Davis.
In the summer, both E10 and E15 have a similar level of their evaporation potential — a measure of how likely they are to affect air quality. But in 1978, according to Smith, Congress allowed a higher level for E10 — but not for E15.
“That’s why E10 gasoline can be sold year-round, even though its smog-forming potential is no better than E15,” Smith wrote.