Statewide Iowa — Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds is among a bipartisan group of eight Midwest governors asking the Biden Administration to let gasoline with a 15 percent blend of ethanol be sold in their states year-round.
This summer, a federal appeals court struck down a 2019 rule allowing year-round E-15 sales nationwide. The governors say under the Clean Water Act, they can authorize E-15 sales within their states’ borders all year long. Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw says the future of the ethanol industry depends on getting higher blends into the marketplace.
Shaw says E-15 is up to 20 cents per gallon cheaper than E-15 for consumers and an additional 225 million bushels of corn would be needed for ethanol production if E-15 is sold everywhere all year.
The letter from the governors asks the EPA what documents they need to provide in order to ensure E-15 can be pumped year-round in their eight states.
