The Environmental Protection Agency’s delay in allowing year-round use of E15 gasoline threatens to harm markets for family farmers.
National Farmers Union President Roger Johnson wrote a letter to EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, urging the EPA to immediately institute a waiver for summertime sales of E15. Johnson says the year-round use of E15 would have significant benefits for farmers, the economy, energy independence, and the environment.
Currently, an arbitrary restriction on the use of E15 in summer months limits the amount of ethanol that can be blended into the nation’s fuel supply. EPA has been actively working on allowing year-round use of E15 since October of 2017, plus, President Trump committed to allowing an E15 waiver earlier this year. However, EPA has yet to take any action or provide any timetable as to when a waiver can be expected. This delay in issuing the waiver is threatening to upend any potential benefits of a waiver in the upcoming summer months of 2018.
“It’s now May, and the summer restrictions on E15 for this year are looming with no apparent movement from EPA on the matter,” Johnson says in his letter to Pruitt. “Year-round use of E15 is not a new issue for EPA.” The letter goes on to urge Pruitt to act in an expedited manner to allow the use of E15 this summer.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.