RFA Calls on EPA to Move Up Year-Round E15 Sales to Summer 2023, Despite Agency Delays

(Renewable Fuels Association) Months of regulatory delays by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have put Midwest drivers at risk of losing access to lower-cost, lower-carbon E15 this summer, the Renewable Fuels Association said at an EPA hearing today. RFA urged the agency to allow sales of the E15 fuel blend this summer, rather than waiting until 2024, as has been proposed by EPA.

The comments came in response to the EPA’s proposal to approve a petition from eight Midwest governors that would level the playing field for fuel volatility regulations, thereby allowing the sale of lower-carbon E15 through the summer months in their states. RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper reminded the agency that it had a statutory duty to approve and implement the governors’ petition within 90 days—which would have been no later than July 27, 2022. Instead, the proposal was issued just three weeks ago, and EPA now proposes deferring implementation until 2024.

Even though EPA’s proposal is more than seven months late, there remains no economic, environmental, or legal justification for the Agency to delay implementation by another year, Cooper said.

“If there truly is a problem with implementing the governors’ petition this summer, it is a problem of the Administration’s own making,” Cooper said. “EPA’s seven-month delay in taking any action at all on the petition has put the marketplace in a real jam—and it should be EPA’s responsibility to get us out of that jam. If the Agency truly believes it cannot implement this petition in time for the summer of 2023, then it should consider using other regulatory authorities to ensure consumers have uninterrupted access to lower-cost, lower-carbon E15. Unless the Agency acts quickly, Midwest drivers will soon lose the ability to choose a fuel that saved them 20-30 cents per gallon on average last summer at a time of record gasoline prices.”

Excerpt from Energy.AgWired.com: It was April 12, 2022 when President Biden traveled to an ethanol plant in Iowa to announce an emergency waiver to allow the sale of 15 percent ethanol (E15) in the summer months – and once again the industry finds itself in the same situation a year later.

In a letter to EPA Administrator Michael Regan last week, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper noted that the same fuel supply circumstances that justified emergency waivers last summer still exist in the marketplace today.

“War in Ukraine continues to disrupt the U.S. fuel supply,” Cooper wrote. “Total U.S. gasoline stocks fell to just 229.6 million barrels last week, 5 percent below year-ago levels and the lowest for this time of year since 2015. Meanwhile, total stocks of crude oil and petroleum products are also down 5 percent from a year ago and have fallen to a 19-year low for this time of year.”

Earlier this month, EPA proposed to approve petitions from eight states that would allow the year-round sale of E15 in their states, but not until next year, leaving the country again without E15 in the summer.

Members of the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) are heading to Washington DC this week to meet with lawmakers and hear from EPA officials, and CEO Brian Jennings says the topic of year round E15 will be a major priority for them.

“EPA’s proposed delay makes a more permanent, nationwide E15 solution even more critical, and ACE will remain engaged with Congress and our industry partners,” Jennings said.

Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA) is among members of Congress who are pressuring the administration to take action on E15. “They need to stop dragging their feet on these ethanol-related issues because this is about doing the right thing for consumers and doing the right thing for agriculture at the same time,” said Hinson on the latest Agri-Pulse Newsmakers.

The governors have also called on EPA to take emergency action ensure uninterrupted access to E15 throughout the summer 2023 driving season if the agency is unable to implement their proposal in time. Signing on to a letter last week were Govs. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), Jim Pillen (R-NE), Tim Walz (D-MN) and Kristi Noem (R-SD).

They wrote, “we ask that EPA use its authority under Clean Air Act to apply the same volatility limitations to both E10 and E15 during the 2023 summer ozone control season to address extreme and unusual fuel supply circumstances across our nation caused by the war in Ukraine.”

During an EPA virtual hearing on the governors’ proposal, Cooper said despite the fact that EPA delayed in responding to the petition, “there remains no economic, environmental, or legal justification for the agency to delay implementation by another year.” READ MORE