Insight Focus
Year-round E15 sales plan have stalled in Congress. Industry and biofuel groups had agreed on reforms to expand E15 availability and limit refinery exemptions. Stakeholders, including corn growers, continue pushing for compromise legislation ahead of a possible February vote.
Year-Round E15 Plan Stalled
Despite agreement between the petroleum industry and biofuels groups on changes to proposed legislation that could allow national, year-round availability of E15, politicians in late January put the kibosh on the idea—for now.
In mid-January, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and ethanol groups, including the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), agreed on reforms to US biofuel policy that would limit refineries’ future exemptions from biofuel mandates and make changes to a bipartisan bill permitting a higher-ethanol gasoline blend. The groups’ final framework would authorise year-round sales of E15. If passed into law, the deal would be a major victory for ethanol producers.
However, the amendment was recently scrapped in Congress, dealing a blow to ethanol producers and large refineries. “We’ve known for several months now that the appropriations bill would be the best way to get this done in the near term,” said Geoff Cooper, president of the RFA. Instead, lawmakers struck a deal to establish a council focusing on E15.
Cooper said it is unlikely the group will come up with a solution before the council’s February 15 deadline to submit a proposal to Congress. The RFA will continue to look for a way to pass E15 expansion, which could include attaching it to other legislation, such as the farm bill.
Proposed E15 Policy Revisions Stir Debate
Under the proposed revisions to the agreement, exemptions from annual biofuel-blending requirements would only be available to energy companies processing 75,000 barrels per day of crude oil across all operations, rather than 75,000 barrels per day per plant. A number of oil company officials were opposed to the changes and were lobbying lawmakers vigorously, according to news sources.
Oil and Gas Refinery, US
A member of the Senate Agriculture Committee told news sources that a critical change in ethanol policy would provide more certainty for retailers and corn farmers. Deb Fischer, a Republican from Nebraska, said year-round, nationwide E15 would likely improve demand. Fischer added that the change would create additional choices at the pump and eliminate the need for a patchwork of emergency waivers.
RFA’s Cooper said in a written statement: “We had a deal that is broadly supported by ethanol producers, farmers, large oil refiners, several small oil refiners, fuel retailers and many other stakeholders—Congress shouldn’t let it slip away. They shouldn’t let a handful of mid-sized oil refiners, including foreign-owned companies, blow the whole thing up.”
Cooper added that the Rural Domestic Energy Council will seek to prepare compromise E15 legislation for a vote in February.
“Corn growers are disgusted, disappointed, and disillusioned that after spending years calling for passage of E15, Congress has again punted, and it has done so in a spectacularly weak and offensive way,” said Jed Bower, president of the National Corn Growers Association.
