Skyrocketing Fuel Prices Necessitate Broader Use of Ethanol: RFA
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) Monday urged the Trump administration to take immediate action allowing broader use of ethanol in the U.S. fuel supply to help blunt the impacts of skyrocketing crude oil and gasoline prices.
“Adding larger volumes of low-cost ethanol to gasoline is a proven solution for reducing fuel prices and helping to insulate the U.S. market from global supply shocks,” RFA President Geoff Cooper wrote in a letter to Interior Sec. Doug Burgum, who chairs the administration’s National Energy Dominance Council.
“A series of simple deregulatory actions could rapidly unleash billions of gallons of additional fuel volume, providing relief at the pump for hardworking American families.”
RFA said that ethanol on March 6 “was selling for $0.84 per gallon less than gasoline at the wholesale level — a discount of 31%.”
“In recent days, E15 has been selling for $0.27 per gallon less than standard E10 gasoline,” it added.
RFA said that as soon as possible, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should issue emergency summertime fuel waivers allowing a 1-psi Reid vapor pressure (RVP) volatility tolerance for E15 nationwide, as well as E10 in certain areas that previously opted out of the 1-psi RVP waiver program.
EPA should also immediately eliminate all E15 Misfueling Mitigation Plan requirements, RFA said, and adopt a simple requirement that retail gasoline stations offering E15 for sale must also continue to make E0 or E10 available in at least one clearly marked dispenser at the station.
The group also called for the establishment of a “presumption of E15 compatibility for all fuel dispensers, underground storage tank systems (including piping and all other underground components) and “hanging hardware” (e.g., hoses and nozzles) installed after 2005.”
Cooper said that the most effective way to prevent additional increases in U.S. gas prices is “by expanding and diversifying the domestic fuel supply, including ethanol made from our nation’s farm fields.”
“Knocking down regulatory barriers and allowing E15 to be stored and distributed in existing infrastructure throughout the summer will lower fuel costs for Americans and strengthen the market’s resilience against global supply disruptions,” he added.
Reporting by Michael Schneider, mschneider@opisnet.