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Attorneys general file suit against EPA for E15 authorization delay
Two attorneys general are suing the Environmental Protection Agency for its delay in authorizing year-round E15 sales.
On Monday, Nebraska’s Mike Hilgers and Iowa’s Brenna Bird say they filed the lawsuit to ensure EPA publishes regulations promptly since the agency is more than a year behind schedule.
In April of 2022, eight Midwestern governors asked EPA to allow E15 sales and the Clean Air Act required the agency to comply within 90 days. However, it’s been 376 days since the deadline passed.
Hilgers says the administration knows E15 will reduce costs, provide support to farmers and the summertime waiver should be permanent.
Bird says EPA is refusing to allow Iowans to buy the fuel they want.
American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings says he supports the lawsuit and says the agency continues to drag its feet during the rule-making process.
Geoff Cooper, president and CEO with the Renewable Fuels Association says the marketplace needs time to coordinate and prepare for implementation of these regulations.
Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor says EPA needs to act now so that fuel retailers have the regulatory clarity they need to make investments and expand access to E15.
Tags: ACE, Brenna Bird, Brian Jennings, EPA, Ethanol, Mike Hilgers, Renewable Fuel
Maybe the Governors of these Midwest States should just take a bold step and approve E15 and higher blends at the state level. EPA has allowed the oil industry to manipulate the emission models that result in E15 supposedly making air quality worse. There are plenty of studies showing that simply adding ethanol to current E10 lowers emissions. Thus, states should approve E15, and higher blends based on the requirement that ethanol is only added to current E10 certified fuels. If oil companies want to oppose this limitation of simply adding ethanol, let them put forth vehicle studies that show how they can make a better fuel other than simply adding ethanol. We should not allow ethanol to be the scapegoat for oil refineries making a lower performance gasoline, or at least that is how EPA models E15.
We don’t fix the problems facing ethanol by first starting in DC. Asking DC to require a boutique fuel for just a few states will raise fuel prices about as much as the cost savings of E15.