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Governors’ Biofuels Coalition wants ethanol to help phase out aromatics in gasoline

The leaders of the Governors’ Biofuels Coalition, Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kristi Noem of South Dakota, are asking the Trump Administration to reduce toxic aromatics in gasoline by using higher ethanol blends.

Walz says a provision in the Clean Air Act that requires the eventual elimination of carcinogenic aromatics in gas has been ignored by the EPA, which he and Noem call “unacceptable.”

Walz says substituting clean octane from biofuels for aromatics’ dirty octane would yield major benefits.

“This is a home-grown business. It reduces carbon emissions, it’s a market for our products. And it’s created jobs in communities.”

Walz and Noem, on behalf of the coalition, have written President Trump saying it’s time to follow the law and give Americans less toxic gasoline and the benefit of sustained, lower gas prices by replacing aromatics with biofuels.

Governors from 22 states are part of the Biofuels Coalition including Brownfield states Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.

Walz made these comments during the Minnesota Farm Bureau annual meeting in Minneapolis Saturday.