President Biden is visiting an Iowa ethanol plant this afternoon to highlight his administration’s move to allow nationwide sales of E15 during the summer months.
Iowa Renewable Fuels Association executive director Monte Shaw says it’s “the single most important step Biden could have taken” to keep fuel costs down this summer.
“It’s keeps a cheaper fuel that’s more ‘Made in America’ in the market when we’re dealing with these overseas oil embargoes of Russia and all this stuff that’s driving up prices,” Shaw says.
In parts of rural Iowa, E15 is about 30 cents per gallon cheaper than gasoline with 10 percent ethanol and it’s a cheaper option near Shaw’s office in suburban Des Moines. “Down the street from me there’s one store on one side of the street that’s selling E15 10 cents under and the store on the other side of the street is selling it for 20 cents under E10,” Shaw says, “so you know which one I go to.”
Some stations in Minnesota and other parts of the country have E15 priced 50 cents a gallon cheaper than E10. “You’re talking about saving some real money over the course of the summer,” Shaw says.
The Trump Administration moved to allow year-round sales of E15 in 2019, but a recent court ruling in a lawsuit filed by the oil industry would have blocked sales in much of the country this summer.
“We really appreciate what President Biden is doing not just to help Iowans and Americans save money this year, but E15 won’t leave the marketplace,” Shaw says. “There won’t be a disruption and we’ll continue to work with them on a permanent fix.”
There are 2200 gas stations in Iowa and about 275 of them offer E15. “Consumers who have access to E15 are going to continue to save money,” Shaw says.
Shaw is among the crowd at the POET plant near Menlo today for the president’s remarks.