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IRFA: Permanent year-round E15 needs to get done

A biofuels group says a year-round E15 framework needs to be established sooner rather than later.

Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, says the U.S. EPA has not finalized a rule that would allow year-round sales in Midwestern states beginning in 2024.

“On multiple public occasions, EPA officials have said we will get this done by the end of the year, but when you factor in the New Year’s holidays and the Christmas holidays and the Thanksgiving holidays and a potential shutdown and now we don’t have a speaker in the house, they need to get this process started.”

He tells Brownfield legislation in Congress, such as the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, would be a better fix. “Congress could pass a law that changes the regulatory quirk that prevents year-round sales of E15 in a lot of parts of the country.”

Among other things, the bill would allow for ethanol blends of 10% or higher to be sold year-round. It was introduced in March by Republican Senator Deb Fischer of Nebraska.

Shaw says producers and consumers need cheaper options at the pump. “It’s lower priced, it’s higher octane, they will buy it and in stations where it’s offered, they are buying it. But what we know is it can’t be some on again off again part time fuel.”

The Renewable Fuels Association says E15 sales surged this summer compared to the same period in 2022.