The ethanol industry and its backers in Congress have a new concern over the Environmental Protection Agency’s handling of summertime E15 sales, allowed so far on a temporary summer-to-summer basis. Ethanol producers and corn growers won a partial victory earlier this year when the EPA announced it would allow summertime E15 sales permanently in eight Midwest states–but not until next year.
Now, a top ethanol state senator says even that date may change. “I’m hearing rumors that the Biden Administration might even delay the implementation of that rule for those eight states ‘til ’26, and I’ve let them know that that better not be the case,” according to Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA).
Grassley argues it’s bad enough the rule applies to just those eight states—Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Minnesota, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. Grassley and Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar would change that with legislation. He says, “Our legislation would codify the nationwide, year-round sale of ethanol blends above ten percent. The bill has support from Republicans and Democrats, small ethanol refiners, and, can you believe it, even major oil producers.”
But as for the immediate issue of delayed rule implementation in the eight affected states, a spokesperson for the senator says ethanol industry members have voiced concern. They fear the administration “may not be moving in a timely enough manner to implement year-round E15 in the Midwestern states by next year.”
Story courtesy of NAFB News Service and Matt Kaye/Berns Bureau Washington
