Humeyra Pamuk, Jarrett Renshaw report for Reuters
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration on Friday lifted restrictions on the sale of higher ethanol blends of gasoline, keeping a campaign promise to farmers suffering from the trade war with China but drawing a legal threat from the oil industry.
The announcement will allow gasoline stations to sell blends containing up to 15 percent corn-based ethanol, called E15, year-round, ending a summertime ban that President Barack Obama’s Environmental Protection Agency imposed in 2011 to reduce smog pollution.
“As President Trump promised, EPA is approving the year-round sale of E15 in time for summer driving season,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler said in a press release.
In a nod to the oil industry, the agency also issued new rules to improve transparency in the market for biofuels credits that refiners must acquire under the nation’s biofuel law, but the steps stopped short of what many refiners were seeking.
The widely anticipated action on E15 is a win for the U.S. farm lobby, which has argued the restrictions on E15 hurt growers by limiting demand for corn-based fuel, without providing tangible air quality benefits. Recent research has found little difference in smog risk between E15 and E10, a 10 percent ethanol blend that is already available year-round.
“We estimate this one change will generate over a billion new gallons of ethanol demand in the next five years,” said Emily Skor, chief executive of biofuel trade group Growth Energy, adding it could also boost the market for American grain by some 2 billion bushels over time.
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