EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson called Grassley this morning to say that a decision had been made to grant the waiver to vehicles going back to model year 2001. This expands the agency's decision of last October, which applied the waiver to model year 2007 and newer vehicles.
"I've been frustrated with the amount of time it's taken the EPA to reach these decisions, and I'd still like to see a waiver for E15 use in all vehicles, but I also appreciate that the EPA Administrator has made certain to base the decisions on sound science, which puts the waiver decision in a very strong position against court challenges from opponents," Grassley said.
Grassley has been a leading advocate for increasing blends of ethanol in gasoline. He's met personally with the EPA Administrator about the merits of the waiver request from a group of ethanol producers, and he's urged President Obama to take action to grant the waiver request.
Domestic ethanol producers have concluded that a complete waiver for E15 would reduce America's dependence on fossil fuels by replacing 7 billion gallons, or five percent, of fossil fuels with ethanol. Replacing this much fossil fuel with ethanol would also create an estimated 136,000 jobs in the United States.
Grassley supported legislation passed by Congress in 2007, creating the Renewable Fuels Standard, which calls for 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be used by 2022.
"It's important to expand opportunities for ethanol use to meet this goal and to help develop advanced biofuels such as cellulosic ethanol. These initiatives are aimed at greater energy independence for the United States and the savings and security that comes with energy independence, along with the opportunity to create jobs by expanding an important domestic industry," Grassley said.
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