EPA officially issued an emergency waiver on Friday to allow year-round E15, offering Americans the opportunity to purchase ethanol during summer months for the first time since the renewable fuel standard’s inception under the Energy Policy Act in 2005.
In early April, President Biden
—ahead of EPA
—formally announced the suspension of a federal rule that prohibits the sale of E15 blended biofuels during summer months in hopes of alleviating rising pump prices.
According to EPA, the summer suspension has been banned to counteract Russia’s “unjustified, unprovoked, and unconscionable” war against Ukraine. EPA says it has been working alongside the U.S. Department of Energy to monitor the energy market disruptions and act accordingly.
Keeping Course on the Climate Voyage
Recent reports claim ethanol is generally prohibited during the summer months, due to smog. EPA publicly disagreed with those claims in its announcement on Friday.
“EPA’s research has shown no significant impact on evaporative emissions when the 1-psi waiver is extended to E15,” the agency wrote. “With no significant impacts on emissions from cars and trucks, we expect consumers can continue to use E15 without concern that its use in the summer will impact air quality.”
Andy Randolph, technical director at Earnhardt Children’s Racing, disagrees with smog claims as well, saying “E15 has less smog potential and less volatility than E10.” He says the only ethanol blends we should be wary of are E30 and above, “because the vapor pressure of ethanol-gasoline blends then becomes less than the vapor pressure of straight gasoline.”
Randolph says the highest level of ethanol blends should be E30, as any level higher can cause your car not to start in winter due to low vapor pressure.
More on renewable fuels:
> E15 Summer Ban Suspended, USDA Commits $700M To Biofuels Producers
> Renewable Fuel’s Big Week on The Hill
> Secy. Vilsack: E15 Won’t Inflate Food Prices, ‘There’s Plenty of Corn Here’
> EPA Moves to Deny 36 Small Refinery Exemptions, Extends Olive Branch
