The Environmental Protection Agency has granted an emergency waiver allowing fuel retailers to sell E15, a fuel blend made with 15 percent ethanol this summer.
E15 has seasonal vapor pressure restrictions during the summer driving season. Without the waiver, it can’t be sold year-round.
“Today’s announcement is a win for drivers across the nation, who can rest easier knowing that they’ll have access to savings on lower-carbon E15 this coming summer,” says Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. Growth Energy is the nation’s largest biofuels trade association.
According to Growth Energy, last summer, E15 saved drivers $0.16 per gallon on average, and up to a dollar per gallon in some regions. It delivered those savings while reducing carbon emissions and smog-forming pollution.
Meanwhile, the renewable fuels industry is continuing to push EPA and Congress to get E15 to a permanent year-round sale status.
“It allows for continuity at the gas station because they don’t want to have to switch a pump. You go to a Kwik Trip for example, and they’ve got four hoses there and E15 is one of the choices. But then in the summer, now you’re not supposed to use it for reasons that really don’t make any sense,” says Neal Kemmet, president of Fox River Valley Ethanol in Oshkosh and ACE Ethanol in Stanley. “It’s a great fuel, billions of miles have been driven on it.”
In an interview with Mid-West Farm Report Kemmet says that while we wait for this year’s corn crop to get going, he’s satisfied with the quantity and quality of corn in storage for ethanol production. He also notes that export markets are growing for renewable fuels. Japan has recently committed to buying up to 100 percent U.S. ethanol. And it’s a win for ethanol producers:
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