Biden administration officials have decided to issue an emergency waiver that will allow widespread sales of E15 gasoline with more ethanol this summer, following a strategy used last year to help reduce high pump prices.
The waiver, which the Environmental Protection Agency will announce Friday, will temporarily exempt the 15 percent ethanol fuel blend from volatility requirements that effectively block sales from June 1 to Sept. 15 for much of the country The planned move was described by people familiar with the matter who asked not to be named because the decision is not public.
The resignation comes after weeks of pressure from ethanol advocates, including elected officials in Midwestern corn-producing states, who were frustrated by a separate decision by the Biden administration to delay another policy action that aimed to extend sales of E15 in the summer until next year.
To justify the emergency measure, the EPA will cite similar conditions that served as the basis for a series of temporary waivers last year, the people said. At the time, the EPA argued that the fuel volatility exemption for E15 was in the public interest and needed to address “fuel supply circumstances” spurred by the war in Ukraine.
Oil industry advocates have questioned the legality of the emergency approach, raising the specter of a court challenge.
EPA spokespeople did not immediately respond to requests for comment after regular business hours.
Conventional E10 gasoline, which is widely sold in the United States, already has a partial exemption from the same fuel volatility limits, an exemption that Midwestern governors have asked the EPA to remove.
An analysis for the pro-ethanol group Growth Energy said that when sales of E15 were given the green light in the summer last year, the blend cost almost $1 less per gallon than conventional E10 in some areas.
–With assistance from Kim Chipman.
