Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) says Senators are working on a new bill that would allow year-round sales of E15 higher blends of ethanol motor fuel.
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Tag: E15 gasoline (15 % ethanol blends)
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The deadline for a congressional council to come up with a plan for E15 legislation has passed with no apparent breakthrough in ending a stalemate between large and mid-sized oil refiners.
Biofuel and corn producers are caught in the middle as their goal of making higher ethanol fuel blends, known as E15, at gas pumps year-round remains out of reach. The council was established when it became apparent that no compromise provision was ready to be included in the most recent FY 2026 funding measure.
February 15 was set as the date for an agreement to be finalized with February 25 as the targeted date for final Congressional action to be completed. Negotiators proceed with participants intending to continuing to work on the effort.
Independent refiners insist that any E15 proposal also must keep the costs of the ethanol mandate from growing. At issue are potential changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard.
“Year-round E15 without meaningful RFS reforms would put America’s remaining independent refineries at risk, threatening thousands of family-sustaining jobs, driving up higher gas prices, and weakening domestic refining capacity,” the Fueling American Jobs Coalition says.
The outlook for corn sales, the biggest U.S. crop, is in sharp focus in Congress in an effort to offer market relief for farmers. Senator Deb Fischer (R-NE) has again introduced legislation, S. 593, the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, that would amend the Clean Air Act to allow year-round, nationwide sales of E15 gasoline (15 % ethanol blends) by applying the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver that currently only covers E10 fuel. While administrative waivers have applied the RVP waiver to E15 fuel, this legislation would make it permanent. The bill has garnered notable bipartisan support. Fischer has been joined by both Republican and Democratic senators in reintroducing this legislation. While the legislation has failed to get over the finish line for years, with more than a third of U.S. corn used each year to make ethanol, the industry and farm state lawmakers are hoping to find a way to quickly pass the measure early this year. That includes potentially adding it to funding legislation needed by Jan. 30 to keep the government open.
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