API says House E15 bill is ‘right path’ as Trump calls for action

The American Petroleum Institute, in response to President Donald Trump’s request for Congress to pass a supplemental funding package that includes year-round E15, says lawmakers should use the recently House-passed ethanol bill as their north star.

“The bipartisan House-passed legislation to make year-round E15 permanent, paired with targeted reforms to support independent small refiners, provides the right path forward by delivering long-term certainty for consumers, strengthening the U.S. fuel supply and expanding choice at the pump,” says Will Hupman, API VP of Downstream Policy.

The House measure passed last month to allow year-round, voluntary sales of higher ethanol fuel blends, known as E15, also included a provision that would change how biofuel law exemptions for small refineries are dealt with under the Renewable Fuel Standard. The proposal has divided the oil industry and drawn objections from some key lawmakers.

So far, the Senate doesn't plan to take up the House E15 bill. Instead, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., has been working to bring new E15 legislation to the Senate floor. While it's not clear what such a measure might entail, there are broad expectations that it would be a so-called "clean" bill without other major provisions. 

The House measure is widely seen as too divisive to reach a 60-vote threshold to advance in the Senate. Though that view could change if the chamber tries to pass a new funding bill for the military and other items using the reconciliation process, a procedure that requires a simple majority vote for bill passage.

API, which represents large refiners, has said it won’t support a clean E15 bill that doesn’t also deal with small refinery exemptions. 

Meanwhile, the Renewable Fuels Association, an ethanol trade group, says it's ready to help get an E15 bill past the finish line.

“RFA remains committed to continuing our work with API -- and all stakeholders -- to secure passage of legislation that provides marketplace certainty for all parties and finally allows nationwide, year-round sales of E15," RFA CEO Geoff Cooper said in a statement to Agri-Pulse.

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