The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) today reacted to the Biden Administration’s decision to allow the sale of E15 year-round in eight Midwest states, but not until the summer of 2025. In April of 2022, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin petitioned EPA for this step to protect the air quality of their citizens, and by law, EPA should have taken action on the petitions in July of 2022.
“As the saying goes, ‘better late than never,’ but EPA had a legal responsibility to approve E15 year-round in these states more than a year and a half ago, so postponing the effective date to April 28, 2025 is disappointing,” said Brian Jennings, ACE CEO. “While we are grateful this issue will be settled in Midwest states with more than half the current E15 retail sites, our urgent priority is to find a solution for continued nationwide access to E15 this summer. The Administration rightfully exercised its authority to grant emergency waivers in 2022 and 2023, and we will be pushing for a solution covering the summer of 2024 as well.
“In addition, ACE continues to actively support bipartisan legislation in Congress, the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, to permanently enable all Americans to benefit from the cost savings and cleaner emissions of E15. This legislation will be one of our priority issues during our March 14-15 DC fly-in.
“Finally, ACE applauds the persistence of the governors of the eight Midwest states for leading the charge on this effort, as well as Attorneys General for Iowa and Nebraska for keeping the administration’s feet to the fire.”
The governors petitioned EPA on April 28, 2022, to eliminate the 1-pound square inch (psi) Reid vapor pressure (RVP) waiver for gasoline containing 10 percent ethanol, essentially asking for E15 to be allowed year-round in their states. By law, the Agency was required to act by July 27, 2022, but didn’t issue a proposed rule to allow E15 year-round in the states until March 6, 2023. The Attorneys General for Iowa and Nebraska sued EPA over its delay on August 7, 2023, in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Iowa. EPA’s rule was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget in December of 2023 for inter-agency review. Today’s decision permanently approved E15 year-round in the eight states but delays implementation to April 28, 2025.