Something just happened in Ohio that hasn’t happened before, and you ned to know about it.
Ohio Corn & Wheat, the American Petroleum Institute – Ohio, Marathon, and the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation have come together on an issue to promote the future of liquid fuels.
You’ve probably never heard all four of these organizations in the same sentence before. That’s because it hasn’t happened.
Along with dozens Ohio farmers, ethanol producers, and retailers, Ohio Corn & Wheat has signed a joint letter calling on Congress to support HR 1608, the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act. That bill would fix the Clean Air Act to allow year-round sales of higher blends of ethanol.
Read the letter sent to Congress in it’s entirety here.
Basically, this letter says that we are all on the same page. Historically, ethanol supporters and oil companies haven’t always seen eye-to-eye. But the recent push from the EPA and Biden Administration toward electric vehicles has changed the game.
This letter lays out the obvious benefits of leaning in to higher ethanol blends and spells out the problems with current law. Outdated language, that did great work at the time, has been surpassed by modern technology and ethanol science. We are dedicated to allowing this safe, efficient, cost-saving fuel option to be sold year-round and be available to consumers.
The old language in the Clean Air Act of 1963 only allows for up to a 10% ethanol blend (E10) to be sold during the summer months. Since then, the technology has improved so much that we have a 15% ethanol blend (E15) available for consumers. But the outdated law doesn’t allow it to be sold in the summer, which, ironically, is when a higher blend would show the greatest benefit to the environment.
For years we have been relying on yearly waivers from the EPA to allow E15 sales in the summer. That isn’t solving the problem. The liquid fuels coalition has had enough uncertainty year-to-year. Retailers need to know if they will be able to sell this product to consumers 25% of the year.
A federal fix to this issue is what we need. And that’s why we’re calling on Congress to take action now.