E15 Fuel Fails to Make the House Funding Bill

E15 was not included in the house version of the recent funding bill, a major disappointment for ethanol advocates across the country. Faith Parum, Economist with the American Farm Bureau Federation, shares more details on the decision and its potential impact.

‘We are very disappointed that year-round, if E15 was not included in the funding bill, to us, it's an easy button, right? It increases corn demand, it decreases gas prices for the consumer. So for us, it really makes a big sense to put a year-round E15. For some context, E15 is typically 10 to 30 cents cheaper per gallon. So when we're talking about affordability, that's really great for consumers. Across the country, for our farmers, year-round E15 would increase demand by about 2.4 billion bushels of corn each year, and so that would really help a struggling farm economy.”

Farm states pushback from smaller refiners aided in the prevention of the year round E15 language being passed.

“Actually, a lot of the big oil and gas companies are supportive of year-round 815. It's a lot of the small and medium refiners that are having issues with year round 815 and the designation of a small refinery. And so we continue to work with them to figure out what a solution could be. We just know that year round e 15 would benefit farmers. It's going to benefit consumers. And so they've got to find a way for Congress to get this passed and through the finish line.”

Faith Parum with the American Farm Bureau Federation.