EPA Emergency Waiver Lifts Restrictions in Ethanol Gasoline in Desperate Attempt to Lower Prices

The Environmental Protection Agency issued a waiver on Friday designed to expand the sale of ethanol-blended gasoline as part of President Joe Biden‘s strategy to bring down high fuel prices.

The EPA’s emergency waiver lifts restrictions on E15, gasoline containing 15% corn-based ethanol, allowing retailers across the country to sell the fuel between June and September. Current regulations restrict sales to limit emissions of smog-causing volatile organic compounds, although some cities are excepted from the rules.

Biden announced intentions to lift the restrictions on April 12 during a visit to a bioprocessing plant in Iowa, the nation’s top corn producer, in response to what the administration has dubbed “Putin’s price hike.”

Gasoline prices have reached the highest nominal levels on record since the war in Ukraine began. The U.S. average was $4.10 per gallon for the week ending April 25, a slight rise over the previous week.

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The EPA said Friday it issued the waiver “to counteract Russia’s unjustified, unprovoked, and unconscionable war against Ukraine and the profound impact on global and domestic energy markets.”

Midwestern members of Congress in both parties had been urging the Biden administration to enable wider use of ethanol to tame high prices and propose year-round authorization for E15.

Other industry groups representing small retailers and oil refiners oppose the expansion of E15 and won a court battle they initiated after the Trump administration changed E15 rules to expand sales.

Chet Thompson, president and CEO of American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, criticized the move in a statement on Friday.

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The Biden administration’s “action will not solve the problem,” he said. “To stabilize gasoline prices, protect union jobs and strengthen U.S. energy security for the long term, we encourage President Biden to focus on domestic energy production and reforms to policies like the [renewable fuel standard] that needlessly make it more expensive to manufacture gasoline and diesel for drivers here in the United States.”