Ohio corn farmers are furious, fed up, and done waiting. Every driver in Central Ohio should be, too.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Congressional leadership failed farmers and ignored the financial pain consumers are experiencing by omitting year-round E15 language from the latest spending bill debated in Congress. That matters to every driver because E15 is Unleaded 88; you may know it as the blue-handled fuel sold across Ohio, which is often priced $.20 to $.30 below regular gasoline. It’s an American-made fuel that creates real competition at the pump, and the more it grows, the harder powerful interests fight to stop it.
Washington’s solution for struggling farmers and families? Create a task force, the “E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council.”
Here’s why that matters: task forces don’t deliver relief. They don’t cut prices at the pump, and they don’t move demand for corn. They just buy Washington more time while everyone else pays the price.
Let’s call this exactly what it is: a stall tactic and a betrayal.
For years, farmers have done everything Congress asked. We’ve shown up. We’ve met. We’ve explained the economics, the science, and the benefits to consumers. Yet all those efforts were met with more delay, more excuses, and business as usual.
While Washington drags its feet, drivers keep paying more, and farmers keep getting squeezed. That’s not progress; that’s failure.
This didn’t happen by accident. E15 has broad support, not only from farmers, but also from fuel retailers and industry leaders who understand it is a proven option that works. It also has bipartisan backing from members of Ohio’s congressional delegation, including Representatives Shontel Brown, Mike Carey, Marcy Kaptur, Greg Landsman, Max Miller, and Dave Taylor, along with Senators Bernie Moreno and Jon Husted.
But as soon as E15 gained momentum, the same playbook emerged: delay, distraction, and disappointment. Why? Because powerful interests fear real competition at the pump. They profit when Americans have fewer choices and pay more.
Simply put, the “E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council” is Washington kicking the can down the road…again.
With an over 2-billion-bushel corn surplus and commodity prices stuck at painfully low levels, farmers face yet another year of tight margins and serious financial strain.
Nationwide, year-round E15 would have provided an immediate solution to grow domestic demand, strengthen energy security, and move more corn through the market.
When this task force is over, farmers and families will be right back where we started. That’s because a task force doesn’t grind a single kernel of corn. It doesn’t help a family farm facing another year of low prices. And it doesn’t give drivers immediate relief at the pump.
Congress needs to stop wasting time and start doing its job.
The only thing holding back nationwide, year-round E15 legislation is politics and pressure from the people who profit from keeping this country dependent on outdated policies. Farmers have waited long enough, and consumers deserve better.
I encourage every American, farmer or not, to call, write, and demand that Congress stop breaking promises, stop delaying, and start delivering real results for family farms and hardworking families. It’s time to pass a permanent legislative fix for nationwide, year-round E15.
Now.
Tadd Nicholson
Executive Director, Ohio Corn & Wheat Growers Association
