Ethanol Blog

LINCOLN, Neb. (DTN) -- The ethanol industry's hopes of Congress passing legislation to allow for permanent E15 sales nationwide for the upcoming driving season may be dwindling, as a bipartisan group of U.S. senators asked President Donald Trump on Thursday to provide a temporary waiver to allow E15 sales to continue nationally this summer, in a letter to the White House.

The U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives both introduced the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act earlier this year in a step for a permanent fix for E15, https://www.dtnpf.com/….

A group of senators, however, appear to be conceding that passing the bill ahead of the summer driving season that begins on June 1 may not be possible.

"Currently, the eight Midwestern governors' petitions to sell E15 year-round has allowed for an agreement between both ethanol and petroleum stakeholders in support of a permanent legislative solution to allow nationwide, year-round E15 sales," the senators told Trump.

"In the interim, taking action to permit the sale of E15 nationwide during the 2025 summer driving season also will be beneficial for consumers, the domestic energy industry and agricultural producers. And to ensure nationwide uniformity in the gasoline market, we urge you to apply the temporary emergency waivers to E15 in all states as well as to E10 in the eight states who petitioned EPA to opt out of the RVP waiver program."

The letter was signed by Sens. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisconsin; Kevin Cramer, R-North Dakota; Tammy Duckworth, D-Illinois; Joni Ernst, R-Iowa; Deb Fischer, R-Nebraska; Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Josh Hawley, R-Missouri; John Hoeven, R-North Dakota; Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota; Jerry Moran, R-Kansas; Gary Peters, D-Michigan; Pete Ricketts, R-Nebraska; Mike Rounds, R-South Dakota; Elissa Slotkin, D-Michigan and Tina Smith, D-Minnesota.

The senators said the continued war in Ukraine was a good reason to allow the waiver to add to the U.S. fuel supply.

"These waivers will allow our domestic energy supply chain to continue to quickly and reliably respond to fuel supply challenges brought on, in part, by the war in Ukraine, which unfortunately continues to weigh on global energy and security," the letter said.

"Furthermore, this effort is in line with your executive order 'Declaring a National Energy Emergency' that implores Environmental Protection Agency Administrator (Lee) Zeldin and Department of Energy Secretary (Chris) Wright to consider issuing these emergency waivers. And finally, this action will give the agriculture economy much needed certainty by increasing the domestic demand for American commodities."

Read more on DTN:

"E15 Bill Introduced in House, Senate," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

Todd Neeley can be reached at todd.neeley@dtn.com

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