The plan represents a decline from a proposal announced last year and drew immediate criticism from the biofuels industry. Environmental groups also were disappointed, saying EPA’s continued push for ethanol and other biofuels will hamper U.S. climate efforts.
The move was welcomed by renewable fuel and farm groups but condemned by environmentalists and oil industry groups.
Administration officials said the EPA has begun analyzing the “emergency” step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer and determined it is not likely to have significant on-the-ground air quality impacts.
The Indiana Senate narrowly upheld a veto that Gov. Eric Holcomb issued last year on a bill that would have required additional labeling for fuel pumps distributing E15, a fuel blend that contains up to 15% ethanol in gasoline.
The lower production targets are a win for the oil industry, which argues that biofuel blending is costly and raises gasoline prices.
Biofuels producers and some of their supporters in Congress say now is the time to increase sales of ethanol and biodiesel, not abandon them.
Federal regulators on Monday handed a victory to corn farmers and the renewable fuels industry by refusing to allow a group of petroleum refiners in 14 states to forego requirements to blend ethanol into the gasoline they make.
Some farm groups and farm-state lawmakers expressed anger at the Trump administration Thursday over final ethanol rules that they said failed to uphold the president’s promises to the industry.
Agriculture commodity groups and some farmers expressed frustration and anger Wednesday with a rule released by the Environmental Protection Agency that they said fails to uphold a promise President Donald Trump made 12 days ago.
Administration officials agreed to the broad contours of a renewable fuel plan, including further moves to encourage the use of E15 gasoline containing 15% ethanol, beyond the 10% variety common across the U.S.
The owner of a western Indiana ethanol plant is blaming its shutdown on the Trump administration’s decision to allow some refineries to not blend ethanol with gasoline as required under federal law.
A biofuel deal between the two nations would come as a relief for the U.S. ethanol industry, which has been beset by a supply glut and the weakest margins in more than 15 years.
The study conflicts with a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture that found corn-based ethanol’s greenhouse gas emissions were 39% lower than gasoline over the entire life cycle.
A senior administration official said Monday that the EPA will publish a rule in coming days to allow high-ethanol blends as part of a package of proposed changes to the ethanol mandate.
The Obama administration has failed to study as legally required the impact of requiring ethanol in gasoline, the Environmental Protection Agency inspector general said Thursday.
Ethanol advocates, largely from Midwest farming states, testified that the Environmental Protection Agency's target for biofuels next year again falls short of what Congress had in mind.
Record stockpiles of ethanol are forcing some biofuels producers into the ranks of energy companies that are slowing operations in the face of $30-per-barrel crude oil.
The EPA’s rule could revive a congressional debate over the Renewable Fuel Standard and spill over into the presidential campaign, as candidates stump in Iowa and other corn-belt states.
Noble Americas, a U.S. subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Noble Group, bought the plant two years ago after a previous owner went bankrupt and the plant had to close.
Indiana's ethanol producers warned that their industry could face a long-lasting "chilling effect" if the federal government lowers the amount of ethanol blended into the U.S. fuel supply.
