EPA Emergency Waiver Extends E15 Access, Hastens Winter Gasoline Specification
The EPA announced an emergency fuel waiver on Thursday afternoon that would extend the temporary federal allowance on summertime E15 blending and hasten the transition to winter gasoline by two weeks.
The agency said in its notice that the decision to move up the implementation date for winter gasoline standards from Sept. 16 to Sept. 1 would eliminate the need for fuel marketers and distributors to produce a costlier, lower volatility fuel blend “and in the process will prevent the decreased supply of petroleum gasoline that would otherwise occur.”
Market participants are uncertain about the extent to which the waiver will be accepted by states, however, with one industry source noting that pipelines will play a key role in determining which grades are shipped.
High-RVP winter-grade gasoline is traditionally easier to produce and therefore tends to run at a lower price point than the lower-RVP winter-grade gasoline.
The agency’s notice this week also extends the series of emergency waivers that have been issued for E15 summertime access since March 25.
Under the Clean Air Act, E15 has historically been banned from use in most parts of the country from June 1 to Sept. 15 due to smog concerns. The EPA has issued emergency waivers on that prohibition for the past five summers, however, under the rationale that “extreme and unusual” circumstances have impacted fuel supply domestically.
The agency has attributed that low supply to various conflicts over the past several years, including wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.
But Thursday’s notice placed the onus of supply concerns squarely on Iran, citing attacks against tankers in the Strait of Hormuz and strikes against oil and gas infrastructure across the Middle East. As a result of these actions, the agency cited a projection from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) in its notice that the majority of shut-in crude oil production will be offline until the first quarter of 2027.
The agency also said it was concerned over waning domestic refining capacity in recent years that has provided “less cushion to mitigate any unexpected disruptions to refinery operations or sudden increases in customer demand.”
In an effort to alleviate the current outlook for fuel pricing nationwide, the agency said that it would extend the ongoing series of E15 waivers through to Aug. 31 instead of the traditional Sept. 15 end-date for that allowance.
Beginning on Sept. 1, the CAA’s prohibition on E15 will essentially become moot under the early transition to winter gasoline also within the emergency waiver action.
“Waiving federal enforcement of these boutique fuel requirements provides maximum flexibility to states to address supply issues within their states and to the fuel distribution system to source gasoline from the widest pool of potential producers and distribution systems, helping to alleviate the extreme and unusual supply circumstances described in this action,” the agency said.
The announcement on Thursday was applauded by proponents for the ethanol industry, as Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), said the Trump administration “has made the right move to increase the volume of E10 and E15 available to American drivers in the weeks ahead.”
And Emily Skor, CEO of Growth Energy, said the announcement, “aligns with this EPA’s track record of giving retailers the certainty they need to keep E15 on the market all year long.”
“We applaud EPA for taking this initiative, and hope Congress does the same when it returns from recess by getting year-round E15 to the president’s desk,” Skor said.