New Ethanol Bill Touted as Good for Farmers and the Environment

by Andrew Deziel (Lonsdale News Review) A bipartisan group of legislators have introduced a bill that would make Minnesota the first state in the nation to embrace E15, or gasoline with 15% ethanol, as the standard.

The bill was introduced Monday in the House by Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin, and in the Senate by Sen. Torrey Westrom, R-Elbow Lake. Poppe and Westrom serve as chair of the Agriculture Committee in their respective branches of the legislature.

Reps. Todd Lippert, DFL-Northfield, and Jeff Brand, DFL-St. Peter, are among the co-sponsors of the bill. A longtime rural resident and member of the Climate Solutions Caucus, Lippert said that E15, gasoline blended with 10.5% to 15% ethanol, could provide a crucial boost to farmers while also reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

E15 has been commonly sold at Minnesota gas stations since 2018, when the Environmental Protection Agency repealed a regulation that barred the fuel from being sold during the summer months due to concerns about smog. Although retailers were free to sell E15 during other months of the year, most didn’t, because doing so would have forced them to go through the hassle and expense of changing their pumps and warning labels annually.

Since the repeal of that rule, the amount of E15 gasoline sold has skyrocketed, nowhere more than in Minnesota.

Minnesota has traditionally been a leader in encouraging biofuel use. The state was the first in the nation to require that fuel carry at least 10% ethanol content, and today over 98% of gasoline sold in the United States contains ethanol, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Ethanol is also a rare issue that brings legislators from both sides of the aisle together in Minnesota.

This week, Rep. Angie Craig, DFL-Eagan, sent a letter to the Select Committee on the Climate Crisis, urging the Committee to include biofuels as a part of its climate plan. It was signed by 11 of Craig’s colleagues, including Nebraska Republicans Jeff Fortenberry and Don Bacon.

With an octane level of 88, E15 is a slight upgrade compared to standard gasoline, and is priced slightly lower than traditional gasoline.

However, the EPA doesn’t recommend using E15 in vehicles older than 2001, motorcycles or boats.

According to the Corn Growers Association, Minnesota’s Ethanol Industry currently supports more than 20,000 full-time jobs and generates more than $1.7 billion in income. Many ethanol plants are cooperatively owned, ensuring farmers get a chance to share in the profits. READ MORE