ACE Applauds California Legislature for Bill Allowing the Sale of E15
On August 31, the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) welcomed California legislative passage of SB 795, the E15 Clean-Up Act, which allows retailers to legally sell E15 using existing gasoline storing and handling infrastructure through January 1, 2029, while state regulators complete work required by statute to approve equipment and finalize rules for permanent E15 sales. The bill requires the State Fire Marshal to adopt regulations by the end of this year regarding labeling and safe adoption of E15 using existing E10 equipment. Those rules had been preventing the sale of E15 even after SB 30 was passed in 2025 with an “urgency” designation to allow E15 to be sold immediately.
E15 is a blend of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol and currently costs 25 to 30 cents less than any other gas at stations elsewhere in the nation.
“ACE applauds the California Legislature for passing SB 795 in the final hours of the legislative session,” said Ron Lamberty, ACE senior vice president and chief marketing officer. “This a major step toward providing retailers a clear path to begin offering less expensive E15 fuel to California drivers using their existing fuel storage and dispensing equipment. We had been critical of state regulators for delaying making E15 available at the pump, and they pointed out rules and regulations preventing them doing so despite the earlier bill’s urgency designation. This legislation corrects that oversight.”
EPA Grants Small Refinery Exemptions for 2025 RFS Compliance Year
On August 31, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its decisions on 34 individual small refinery exemption petitions for the 2025 compliance year, granting full (100 percent) exemptions to 18 petitions, partial (50 percent) exemptions to 11 petitions, denying three petitions, and determining two petitions to be ineligible.
Based on that analysis, EPA is exempting 1.76 billion RFS compliance credits, known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), for 29 small refineries. EPA will propose to reallocate 100 percent of the difference between projected and actual exempted volumes for 2025 SREs into the 2026 and 2027 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) before the end of October 2026.
“American farmers continue to struggle to make ends meet, while oil refineries are posting record profits,” said ACE CEO, Brian Jennings. “In this context, it does not make sense to exempt any refiners from blending low-cost renewable fuels into their outrageously expensive petroleum products. Nevertheless, we appreciate that EPA is taking steps to reallocate the exempt volume to non-exempt refiners and look forward to seeing that promise fulfilled. Until reallocation is final and complete, every exempted gallon is an economic drain on rural America.”
Jennings also expressed concerns about the impact the action might have on work to get nationwide, year-round E15 passed by Congress. “This SRE controversy has essentially hijacked efforts in the Senate to finally adopt legislation simply allowing retailers nationwide to sell low-cost E15 to their customers year-round. Given EPA’s actions today, we once again call on the Senate to work in a bipartisan way to get E15 legislation over the finish line this year.”