Lower-cost, lower-emission E15 ethanol fuel should be available year-round

The higher ethanol blend of fuel - E15 - should be available to consumers year round.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced recently that it will use its existing authority to grant an emergency waiver to allow access to lower-cost and lower-emission E15 fuel for the summer months this year.

The move will waive what ethanol supporters say is an obsolete rule that would prevent drivers from using E15 in the summer months. The higher ethanol blend was approved in 2011 for use in about 98 percent of all passenger vehicles on the road today.

Kansas Corn Growers Association CEO Josh Roe said the emergency waiver was appreciated but falls short of a permanent solution to allow year-round E15. 

“We appreciate that the Administration was able to provide this vital backstop to allow our retailers to offer E15 due to Congressional inaction. While this is a relief for our fuel retailers that have invested in offering E15, an emergency action does not provide the needed certainty to recruit additional stations to add E15 as an option for their customers,’’ Roe said. 

“Congressional action to codify E15 permanently would provide needed additional demand for corn and provide relief for our farmers in these trying times,” Roe said. “KCGA will remain laser focused in holding Congress accountable to provide this relief and will continue to engage with Kansas Gov. Laura Kelly to provide year-round E15 certainty in Kansas.”

An outdated federal rule prevents year-round access to E15 fuel, and the ethanol industry has been forced to rely on emergency waivers from year-to-year to offer E15 in the summer months, ethanol supporters say.

Seven Midwest states have found a more permanent solution by signing on to a letter requesting to be exempted from the outdated rule, which allows year-round E15 in those states. EPA granted requests from the governors of Missouri, Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

In a statement released in late February, Gov. Kelly called for passage of federal legislation allowing year-round E15. She pointed out that reliance on emergency waivers puts pressure on ethanol producers and farmers, and said she was seriously considering signing on to the governors’ letter to allow year-round E15 in Kansas.

If the Kansas Corn Growers Association is waiting for Congress to eliminate this obsolete rule, they could be waiting for a long time.

Gov. Kelly should sign on to the governors’ letter to the EPA to allow year-round E15 in Kansas.