The Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday announced emergency waivers to allow summertime sales of E15.
EPA administrator Lee Zeldin making the announcement at this year’s CERA Week, major energy conference in Houston.
Troy Bredenkamp, senior vice president of government and public affairs with the Renewable Fuels Association says since 2022, EPA has used an emergency waiver each year by way of the Clean Air Act to allow gas stations to sell E15 fuel in the summer months starting May 1.
However, at least the waivers are coming early this year.
“We are going to have emergency waivers for E15 this summer. This announcement is coming probably at least a month ahead of where it usually comes and that’s on purpose, you know, with all the turmoil in the Middle East,” he explains.
The early waivers will avoid the problems they saw last summer with fuel blends that caused fuel disruptions.
“Getting this out early is very positive. The refiners want to have it earlier. We want to have it earlier. The marketplace, the retailers want to have it earlier,” he says.
E10 Emergency Waivers
EPA also announced E10 emergency waivers for the seven Midwest states that already had E15 waivers to remove all federal impediments to selling E10 and provide parody for the two ethanol blends.
According to Bredenkamp, “If they give an E15 waiver for the summer driving season in those seven states, you wouldn’t have a waiver necessarily for E10. So, they have to in those seven states grant an emergency waiver for E10 as well in order to keep maximum fuel fungeability within all fuel pumps within the United States.”
E15 Legislation Needed
However, emergency waivers can’t replace a permanent Congressional fix.
So, farm state lawmakers hope for passage of an E15 bill to make this the last year for the emergency waivers including Sen. Joni Ernst - Iowa (R).
“We’ve done this for a number of years and it’s kind of the same old same old and I am grateful for the waiver. I think that is very important to be able to offer uh the product the way we do through those summer months. But we really do need the administration to assist us with this,” she says.
Ernst says the biggest hurdle for passage is still the refiners and she’s talked to leadership in the administration to urge President Trump to signal to small and mid-level refineries that E15 needs to happen.
E15 a Win Win
Bredenkamp says permanent law would provide certainty for the ethanol industry.
“That would resolve the Midwest state opt- out issue. That would resolve year- round E15. Everyone would know what the game plan is every year moving forward. retailers would have the market certainty that they need to offer it. the corn growers would have uh a demand driver moving forward. That’s what everyone needs.”
And Ernst says consumers would also win at the pump.
“Especially as we see sky high levels of fuel prices. We know we can drop that immediately with E15.”
Meanwhile, EPA is also expected to announce enhanced RVOS or biofuels blending standards by the end of March or even as early as this Friday’s White House Celebration of Ag, which will also help out at the gas pump.
