April 20, 2024 - WASHINGTON – Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, on Friday released a statement on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) permitting nationwide E15 sales this summer. The EPA's announcement follows a bipartisan push from Grassley and his colleagues.  

“This summertime waiver is good news and will preserve access to E15 in the immediate term. However, EPA’s tradition of issuing stopgap E15 authorizations must come to an end. There’s no reason to disrupt the industry by withholding year-round, nationwide E15,” Grassley said.

“In fact, EPA has approved a petition to allow year-round E15 in Iowa and seven other Midwest states starting next year. But I’m hearing rumors the agency might delay implementation, and that better not be true. Such a delay would be a bait-and-switch by Biden bureaucrats on the drivers, retailers, farmers and refiners who are counting on uninterrupted E15 moving forward,” he continued.  

Background: 

The EPA in February declared eight Midwestern states, including Iowa, can produce and sell E15 all year beginning in Spring 2025. Grassley has since pushed the agency to expedite the regulation’s implementation.

Grassley and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) are spearheading a bill to permanently authorize the year-round, nationwide sale of ethanol blends higher than 10 percent, which would cut regulatory uncertainty out of the equation. Last year, he and Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) urged the Office of Management and Budget to act swiftly within its jurisdiction to lift market restrictions on ethanol. The Iowa lawmakers asserted doing so would strengthen U.S. energy security and reduce vehicle emissions. 
Source: Senator Chuck Grassley