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Grassley calls for immediate E12 waiver

The EPA’s delay of the E15 waiver decision is a big disappointment to the ethanol industry and lawmakers pushing for the waiver. Iowa Senator Charles Grassley tells reporters that while the further delay until this fall is unacceptable, EPA has included a complicated waiver plan that’ll slow things down even longer, “And with this new timeline, EPA officials said that E15 blends may not be available to consumers until 2011. Why should we have to wait that long?”

Grassley says he’s offering a new plan while asking President Obama how the delay, from summer to fall, fits in with his plan to reduce the nation’s dependence on foreign oil. Grassley says he’s “asking the president to consider an immediate E12 blend and expedite the E15 blend.”

Grassley says he’s been fighting “Big Oil” on ethanol for the past 30 years and to believe that the auto industry is behind EPA’s delay is not a stretch. “There’s always been a great deal of cooperation between the Big Three car makers and Big Oil throughout the history of petroleum and cars in the United States, so it wouldn’t surprise me,” Grassley says.

Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis has suggested to Brownfield that the automobile industry may be driving the Department of Energy’s plans for further – and unnecessary – ethanol testing in vehicles.

AUDIO: Iowa Senator Charles Grassley conference call (17 min. MP3)

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