President Joe Biden will announce today that the Environmental Protection Agency will reinstate the use of 15% ethanol blends in gasoline for the summer driving season.
Biden will cast the move as a measure to lower gas prices in the United States, but it will also help his standing with legislators from ethanol-producing states. [bold, links added]
The EPA will issue a national waiver to lift current restrictions on the E15 blend. The waiver is slated to take effect June 1 and run through Sept. 15, White House officials said.
Speaking to reporters in a phone call Tuesday night, administration officials touted the cost-saving benefits of E15, which is roughly 10 cents cheaper per gallon than gasoline.
This action provides consumers “with a greater choice, savings, and also a source of fuel that is not dependent on the oil market — which is right now volatile as a result of Putin’s actions in Ukraine,” a senior administration official told reporters ahead of Biden’s announcement.
The news comes as gas prices in the U.S. climbed to a national average of $4.33 last month amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. Gas prices continue to sit above $4 per gallon nationwide, according to AAA.
“The focus here is also on making sure that we are meeting the near-term energy supply emergency and doing so by leveraging homegrown fuels,” the official added.
Biden is slated to make the announcement during his visit to the POET bioprocessing plant (ethanol plant pictured above) outside Des Moines, Iowa.
Both Republicans and Democrats have urged Biden in recent weeks to allow temporary use of the E15 blend as part of an effort to reduce pain at the pump for U.S. consumers.
Iowa GOP Sen. Chuck Grassley issued a statement Monday urging Biden to act: “Tomorrow, President Biden will have the perfect opportunity to stand with Iowa farmers by allowing summer sales of E15,” he said.
“Decisions this year by the Biden administration have shown the president clearly favors Big Oil interests over the interest of Iowa farmers,” Grassley continued. “It would be foolish for the president to continue down this path when he visits the number one biofuel producing state in the nation.”
Read more at Examiner
Just another example how this Administration and Republican farm State Congressional members do NOT understand the world oil market. Instead of addressing the supply shortage with more oil production & conservation initiatives you are proposing relying on a heavily government subsidized, expensive & inefficient fuel additive (ethanol) which does NOTHING to improve the environment. Just like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve withdrawals, a short-sighted and ill informed decision that won’t help much. The current supply shortfall in the oil markets will correct itself given time. No “Easy Button” on this one…
Its going to be a long and Lonesome Summer this year because Biden is a Globalists/Socialists and a Liberal Democrat