Carlisle Ford Runge at the University of Minnesota says he’s grown tired, even bored, with arguing against the expansion of the nation’s ethanol industry.
“It’s an article of faith [among politicians] in the Corn Belt,” said Runge, a professor of economics at the U, on Tuesday. “And it’s bipartisan.”
But power brokers’ desire to dramatically expand ethanol to fill gas tanks of the nation’s vehicles has once again galvanized attention in Washington, D.C.
Earlier this month, U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., introduced a bill to peel back an ozone protection regulation, which currently prohibits summer sales of a high-blend of ethanol called E15.
Klobuchar called the move good for drivers and farmers alike, arguing the bill will “decrease prices at the pump, and reduce our dependence on foreign oil.”
And just last week, U.S. House Rep. Angie Craig, a Minnesota Democrat whose district includes suburbs and farm country south of the metro area introduced a companion measure into the House, proposing to make the fuel blend available year-round.
The Environmental Protection Agency approved E15 for sales in 2011, but only a couple thousand stations across 30 states sell it, according to the Alternative Fuels Data Center.
Moreover, the blend is approved only for engines manufactured after 2001, and it’s largely sold only between Sept. 16 and May 31, due to concerns under the Clean Air Act that the fuel produces more carcinogenic particles in the air.
But this year, the Biden Administration allowed year-round sales to assuage farm economy fears caused by the war in Ukraine’s impact on the world’s energy supply.
The measure, which has bipartisan cosponsors, including Minnesota Republicans Michelle Fischbach and Brad Finstad, would permanently open the fuel to a market during the nation’s busy warm-weather months.
“E15 creates opportunities for our family farmers, supports growth in rural America and lowers prices at the pump for Minnesotans,” Craig said in a statement.
In 2018, the Trump administration similarly sought to approve year-round sales, downplaying environmental concerns about smog, when its EPA director allowed summertime E15. But a federal appeals court in Washington, D.C., blocked that ruling, saying the EPA had overstepped its authority. Only Congress could make such a change.
Allowing higher ethanol blends in the summer has long been supported by agriculture lobbies. Last week, Craig announced support from a range of groups, including the Minnesota Corn Growers Association, Renewable Fuel Association and Minnesota Farm Bureau, who said the measure will help rural economies, reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil and limit air pollution.
In an April roundtable with Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., Gary Wertish, president of the Minnesota Farmers Union, echoed some of the same sentiments, scratching his chin at why E10 (a blend of 90% gasoline and 10% ethanol) is allowable under the EPA’s regulations, but not, say, a blend of 10.5%.
“As a farmer, it’s hard understanding why E15 makes the smog issue in the summertime,” Wertish said in April. “We really need to push the EPA on that.”
