Biden to Allow Higher-Ethanol E15 Gas to Be Sold All Summer

Oil refiners are required to blend some ethanol into gasoline under a pair of laws, passed in 2005 and 2007, intended to reduce the use of oil and the creation of greenhouse gases by mandating increased levels of ethanol in the nation’s fuel mix every year. However, since passage of the 2007 law, the mandate has been met with criticism that it has contributed to increased fuel prices and has done little to reduce greenhouse gas pollution.

A study last month in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences estimated that corn-based ethanol was at least 24 percent more carbon-intensive than gasoline when emissions from land-use changes to grow corn, along with processing and combustion, were included.

“Corn ethanol is a greater emitter of greenhouse gases than gasoline,” said Jason Hill, a professor of bioproducts and biosystems engineering at the University of Minnesota.

“This will actually work in the opposite direction of the administration’s climate goals rather than being a benefit,” Mr. Mills said.

A White House senior administration official on Monday pushed back on that study, arguing that “a number of analyses” have that shown corn-based ethanol cuts greenhouse gas emissions more than 40 percent compared with gasoline.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/12/business/economy/biden-ethanol-gas.html