EPA’s Extended E15 Announcement for Older-Model Vehicles Applauded

The National Corn Growers Association applauded the Environmental Protection Agency’s announcement today that approved the use of E15 in older-model cars from 2001-2006.  This decision follows the EPA’s approval of the use of E15 for 2007 and newer cars this past October.

“The announcement by EPA this morning is welcome news,” says NCGA Chairman Darrin Ihnen, a South Dakota corn grower.  “We have worked closely with EPA during this process and are pleased to see they also realized what our industry has known for a long time: the use of higher blends of ethanol in vehicles is safe.”

 Among the benefits Ihnen points out: 

• According to a 2009 study, moving to E15 will create more than 136,000 new jobs across America and inject $24.4 billion into the American economy annually.
• By using E10 in much of its fuel today, the U.S. has reduced its dependence on foreign oil by billions of gallons each year.  Increasing the blend level from E10 to E15 can avoid the importation of another 7 billion gallons of gasoline per year.
• Moving from our current blend to E15 means we could reduce an additional 20 million metric tons of greenhouse gas emissions/year.  That means E15 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions equal to removing 10.5 million vehicles from the road.

“While there is still plenty of work to be done, NCGA is pleased the EPA has taken this important step forward,” Ihnen says.  “NCGA and its ethanol industry allies will continue our work to educate the public on the use of higher blends of ethanol in vehicles.”