EPA on June 1 will issue an emergency waiver on volatility limits for E15 during the summer driving season, marking the second year in a row that the administration has moved to lift restrictions on the ethanol blend.
The waiver, announced by the agency on Friday, will remain in effect for 20 days, meaning the White House will need to renew the relief measure a number of times this summer.
Under language in the Clean Air Act, E15 is not eligible for the 1-lb. Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver afforded to E10 during the summer ozone season and cannot be sold in parts of the country from June 1 through Sept. 15.
However, the law also allows for the administration to issue temporary, 20-day, waivers on this provision-so long as "extreme and unusual" factors are currently effecting the nation's fuel supply.
The Biden administration chose to invoke such authority last summer, when it issued a series of the waivers throughout the summer driving season. The White House said then that the waivers were warranted given supply shortages for gasoline stemming from Russia's winter invasion of Ukraine.
The agency said in a release on Friday that those supply concerns are "ongoing," adding that it was issuing the waivers once more to "help protect Americans from fuel supply crises by reducing our reliance on imported fossil fuels, building U.S. energy independence, and supporting American agriculture and manufacturing."
EPA said the waiver will also help consumers reduce costs, noting the 25-ct discount that E15 holds over a standard E10 blend.
"Allowing E15 sales during the summer driving season will not only help increase fuel supply, but support American farmers, strengthen U.S. energy security, and provide relief to drivers across the country," EPA Administrator Michael Regan said in the release.
The agency went on to note that, given the relatively equal RVP levels in both E10 and E15, it does not expect "any impact on air quality from this limited action."
Ethanol industry proponents have been lobbying the agency and members of the administration to issue the waivers for several weeks, after EPA in early March decided to delay until the summer of 2024 a plan to make the fuel blend available in eight Midwest states under petitions from their governors.
This content was created by Oil Price Information Service, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. OPIS is run independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
--Reporting by Patrick Newkumet, pnewkumet@opisnet.com; editing by Jordan Godwin, jgodwin@opisnet.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
04-28-23 1318ET
