Summer’s just around the corner, and you know what that means…
Swimming pools, barbecues, and more corn in your gas tank.
On Tuesday, President Biden made his way to an ethanol plant in Iowa and made a big announcement:
“I love corn. I just love it. We should use it more.”
Okay… a bit paraphrased. Here’s what he actually said:
Presidential soundbite: “The [EPA] is planning to issue an emergency waiver to allow E15 gasoline, that uses more ethanol from homegrown crops, to be sold across the United States this summer in order to increase the fuel supply.”
**And the ethanol crowd goes wild.**
Refresher: Citing smog concerns, the EPA currently does not allow E15 to be blended with gasoline during the summer months. Under the waiver, E15 blends will now be available June 1 through September 25.
As Biden made the announcement in the Corn Capital itself, you can bet the enthusiasm was corntagious.
The ethanol industry was quick to tout consumer cost savings. They also noted that current research pretty much concludes E15 doesn’t actually create more smog than year-round E10 blends.
But not everyone found the announcement to be so amaizeing. Some ethanol producers were less than impressed, stating this “short-term solution” should be converted into a true year-round E15 rule.
And of course, the petroleum industry wasn’t too excited.
Where this goes: As a plus, Biden’s ethanol plan fits well with his environmental policy. But currently, E15 pumps and infrastructure is lacking. The solution? $100M rolling out soon that will “build a biofuel infrastructure of the future.”