Dec 7, 2022
A bill introduced in the Senate to allow nationwide year-round sales of the lower-cost E15 ethanol blend has received the support of more than 250 organizations and companies, including fuel retailers, petroleum refiners, farm groups, ethanol producers, and many others. In a letter to congressional leadership today, the entities collaborated to urge the speedy adoption of S. 5145, the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2022, before this session ends.
“Due to the current policy, it is extremely difficult for many fuel marketers and retailers that may desire to offer E15 to their customers in the summer months to source that product,” the letter states. “By ensuring uniformity across the nation’s fuel supply chain, federal legislation will provide more flexibility and result in more consistent outcomes than a state-by-state regulatory landscape. In the absence of such legislation, we could see gasoline marketplace uncertainty and political disputes over E15 continue to resurface every summer.”
“As demonstrated by today’s letter, an increasingly broad and diverse coalition of companies and organizations has rallied together to support the year-round availability of lower-cost, lower-carbon E15,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We all agree that the marketplace desperately needs the certainty and stability that this legislation would provide. And by ensuring consumers nationwide have uninterrupted access to E15, this bill would help lower pump prices, enhance our nation’s energy security, and reduce emissions of both greenhouse gases and the pollutants that contribute to air pollution and smog.”
Last month, RFA and the American Petroleum Institute led a broad coalition of energy and agriculture organizations that called on Congress in a similar letter to quickly adopt legislation to permanently resolve inconsistent fuel volatility regulations. RFA estimates that nearly 97 percent of registered vehicles on the road today are legally approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to use E15, and the vast majority also carry the manufacturer’s endorsement to use E15.
Recent analyses by RFA and the U.S. Energy Information Administration confirm that expanded use of E15 provided meaningful consumer savings at the pump last summer, as war in Ukraine pushed crude oil and gasoline prices to historic highs. Further, a recent CSP survey found that one out of every five fuel retailers plan to add the E15 blend at their locations in the coming year; over 2,800 fuel stations currently carry the blend.
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