Biden to announce authorization of E15 gasoline in an effort to increase US fuel supply, reduce gas prices
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President Biden on Tuesday is set to announce that the Environmental Protection Agency will allow E15 gasoline—gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend—to be sold in the United States this summer in an effort to expand Americans’ access to affordable fuel supply amid the surge in gas prices across the nation.
The EPA is set to issue a national, emergency waiver. Without the action, the White House said E15 cannot be used in most of the country from June 1 to September 15. The EPA is expected to take final action to issue the emergency waiver closer to June 1.
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E15 is currently offered at 2,300 gas stations in the country, where administration officials say it can serve as an "important and more affordable source of fuel."
President Joe Biden participates in a virtual call with the National Governors Association from the White House campus on Dec. 27, 2021. (Kent Nishimura/Los Angeles Times via / Getty Images)
The waiver is set to help increase fuel supplies, give consumers more choice to get lower prices, and offer savings to American families, the White House said.
According to the White House, at current prices, E15 can save a family 10 cents per gallon of gas on average.
A senior administration official said the president's announcement would build on progress of increasing fuel supplies and offering consumers "more choices and flexibility and reduced gas prices."
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The EPA is also working to consider additional action to facilitate the use of E15 year-round.
A senior administration official said utilizing E15 "provides additional options for Americans at a time in which we obviously have a real challenge when it comes to oil and petroleum market."
"This provides greater choice, savings, and also a source of fuel that is not dependent on an oil market, which, right now, is volatile as a result of Putin’s actions in Ukraine," the official said.
The official said the announcement is building on Biden’s steps to address what the White House has billed as "the Putin Price Hike" and bring relief to Americans at the gas pump.
Biden on Tuesday announced a ban on all imports of Russian oil, gas and energy to the United States, targeting the "main artery" of Russia's economy amid Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.
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Russian oil exports account for about one-third of Europe’s oil imports, however, for the United States, Russian exports are just under 10% of U.S. overall imports.
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Biden has been criticized by both Democrats and Republicans for high gas prices, which have risen sharply under his administration even before Russia’s invasion. Many have publicly called for him to open up oil and gas drilling in the United States to lessen the country’s dependence on foreign oil.
Biden, since banning Russian oil imports, has worked with allies and partners through the International Energy Agency to authorize a historic release from petroleum reserves around the world, which the White House said will put 240 million barrels of oil on the market in the next six months—more than one million barrels per day.
Biden also called for a "use it or lose it" policy to make oil companies pay fees on wells from their leases that they haven’t used in years and on acres of public lands that they are holding without producing.
The White House also said Biden has put forward "concrete steps" to promote "real independence" from fossil fuels by working to accelerate the transition to clean energy.
The move Tuesday, according to the White House, reinforces the Biden administration’s goal of "achieving real energy independence and commitment to a long-term strategy to spur smart development and adoption of sustainable, homegrown fuels."
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A senior administration official also said that the Department of Agriculture plans to allocate millions of dollars to a variety of programs—including $700 million to help fund biofuel producers from the Biofuel Producer Program; $5.6 million in grants for infrastructure for renewable fuels; and $100 million for biofuels infrastructure.
"I think we recognize there's a real opportunity in front of us to address the near-term supply challenges, leveraging our homegrown fuels, but we also recognize these homegrown fuels are going to be critical in decarbonizing our broader economy and consistent with the president's net zero targets," a senior administration official said.