DES MOINES, IOWA (January 27, 2023) — Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird led a bipartisan coalition of seven Attorneys-General urging the Biden Administration to follow the law and respond to the request of Governor Kim Reynolds and seven other Governors that the EPA issue regulations allowing the sale of year-round E15 ethanol gasoline in their States.
Despite air-quality benefits, the sale of E15 has been restricted during the summer peak-driving months due to an outdated provision of the Clean Air Act. E15 is a cleaner, more cost-effective gasoline blend than E10, consisting of 15% ethanol, yet it has more stringent limitations.
Federal law permits Governors to request that the EPA issue the regulations allowing E15 and requires the EPA to issue the regulations within ninety days. Gov Reynolds led a bipartisan coalition of Governors making the request on April 22, 2022, but the EPA still has not issued the regulation as required by law. Earlier this month, Gov Reynolds again wrote to the Biden Administration reiterating her request that the mandatory regulations be issued in response to their request.
“I want to thank AG Bird for continuing Iowa’s leadership on holding the EPA accountable and fighting to ensure year-round access to E15. The law is clear on this issue, and it is unacceptable that the EPA continues to flout their statutory deadline. Both the Attorney General and I will never stop fighting for increased access to ethanol.”
AG Bird and the Attorneys General of Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wisconsin wrote to EPA Administrator Michael Regan and Director of Office of Management and Budget Shalanda Young supporting their governors and urging the Biden Administration to comply with the law and issue the regulations allowing E15 this summer.
“It’s time for the EPA to make E15 accessible year-round,” said AG Bird. “Iowa led the nation in establishing an E15 standard. Now, thanks to Gov Reynolds’s leadership, we have the chance to extend the sale of E15 through the summer months in Iowa and other Midwest States. The Biden Administration needs to follow the law and issue these regulations.”
Read the full letter here.
