U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) is among 20 senators who recently requested that President Donald Trump decline a proposal for the year-round sale of E15 fuel, which is a blend of 85 percent gasoline and 15 percent ethanol by volume that is permitted by a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) waiver for use in certain model year cars and light-duty vehicles.
The EPA is reportedly considering regulations that would expand the sale of E15 fuel to year-round via a waiver of certain Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements related to Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP), according to a bipartisan Oct. 4 letter signed by Sen. Cassidy and his colleagues, including U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Susan Collins (R-ME), Roger Wicker (R-MS), and Steve Daines (R-MT). U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD) was among the Democrats who signed the letter.
“However, a one-sided approach to addressing concerns related to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) that favors only one industry stakeholder is misguided,” the senators wrote in their letter to Trump. “We are concerned that doing so would do nothing to address the policies impacting refinery jobs, could hurt millions of consumers whose vehicles and equipment are not compatible with higher ethanol blended gasoline, and risk worsening air quality.”
In strongly opposing Trump’s approach, the lawmakers pointed out that Congress established a maximum RVP for gasoline of 9.0 pound per square inch for the high ozone season as part of the 1990 CAA amendments. In 2010 and 2011, the EPA issued two partial CAA waivers permitting the use of E15 for model year 2001 and newer light duty motor vehicles.
“The research to support the agency’s decisions was based on the impact of E15 on emissions control systems, and those results were inappropriately assumed to determine the impact on engine and fuel system durability,” according to their letter.
Subsequent research, they said, showed that millions of vehicles approved to use E15 “are susceptible to engine and fuel system damage from E15 fuel,” and automobile manufacturers have advised consumers against using E15 fuel in vehicles that aren’t designed to use it.
“Additionally, consumers, using lawn equipment, motorcycles, boats, and other small engines not approved by EPA to use E15, do not have the benefit of a robust misfueling prevention system,” they wrote.
The EPA also has noted the “significant potential” for such higher blends to increase emissions, thereby risking compliance with air-quality standards, according to the senators’ letter.
The lawmakers concluded that a decision to grant a new waiver “goes against the agency’s long standing interpretation as well as a plain reading of the CAA,” they wrote. “We urge you to engage in a collaborative and transparent process with robust engagement on any RFS reform efforts.”