May 2, 2022
As Biden Steps Up for Farmers, Corn Growers Work to Advance Legislation on EthanolKey Issues: Ethanol
Author: Brooke S. Appelton
It was like a scene out of a Hollywood movie. Just as it looked as though the oil industry had succeeded in ending consumer access to higher levels of ethanol – a biofuel that is environmentally friendly and cuts gas prices – over the summer months, President Biden makes an eleventh-hour decision to use his emergency powers to allow for consumer choice. Yet, this wasn’t something out of Hollywood; it was reality. I was pleased to travel to Menlo, Iowa, on April 12 to watch the president tell a barn full of farmers that he would use his emergency authority to extend access to 15% ethanol-blended fuel, or E15, through this summer. The president’s announcement comes after two years of legal drama, in which the oil industry, looking after its own profit margin, sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to end access to E15 during the summer months. A court ruled in 2021 that the EPA had acted outside of its authority, and, as a result, access to E15 was set to end over the summer...
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