Supporters of year-round sales of gasoline containing a higher proportion of ethanol are optimistic after the introduction of a bipartisan amendment to the farm bill with support from both agriculture and fossil fuel state representatives. The amendment would allow the year-round sale of E15, gasoline containing up to 15 percent ethanol. It also would make changes to the Renewable Fuel Standard’s Small Refinery Exemption Program, including revising the definition of a small refining company to specify that the 75,000 barrels per day cap applies to subsidiaries and affiliates of larger companies. The House Rules Committee will meet Monday to consider a resolution governing floor debate for the farm bill. The committee can include in the rule setting debate for the bill language that simultaneously considers the amendment as adopted, or it can rule it in order to be voted on separately on the floor. The amendment was submitted to the House Rules Committee by Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minn., and co-sponsored by Republicans Reps. Randy Feenstra of Iowa and Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma. Bice and Feenstra co-chair the E15 Rural Domestic Energy Council, which Republican leaders established in January to satisfy farm-state representatives after they tried to attach the E15 sales provision to an appropriations package. The council had a deadline of Feb. 15 to release legislation and Feb 25 to vote on it, but ultimately blew past both deadlines. President Donald Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins have called for Congress to pass legislation allowing the year-round sale of E15. Supporters argue it would provide more certainty to farmers. While the EPA has issued a waiver each summer since 2022, legislation would eliminate the possibility a future administration might not issue it. Groups that supported earlier efforts to allow the year-round sale of E15 applauded the amendment. The American Petroleum Institute, American Farm Bureau Federation, Renewable Fuels Association and nine other organizations signed on to a letter released Thursday that called on members of Congress to support the amendment. “This amendment reflects a unique area of agreement across the fuel and agriculture supply chain,” the letter said. “While our industries do not always see eye to eye, we are united in the belief that these policy reforms provide needed certainty, preserve consumer choice, and support agriculture and energy economies alike.” Although the amendment has some buy-in from the oil and gas industry, the midsize refineries raised objections earlier this year, arguing that while proposals have worked for larger oil companies, the RFS compliance costs could drive them out of business. The Fueling American Jobs Coalition, which represents independent refiners and workers, said the amendment did not address their concerns. "It has been made abundantly clear that the ethanol industry has no interest in a year-round E-15 compromise that would rein in the volatile regulatory costs of the Renewable Fuel Standard,” the group said in a statement. "What remains unclear is why Congressional leaders formed the Rural Domestic Energy Council if they had no intention or interest in pursuing a commonsense compromise that would deliver year-round E-15 while protecting independent refiners.” The RFS program also faces opposition from members of the House Freedom Caucus, who argue the program raises prices for consumers. Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania both have introduced amendments to the farm bill to repeal the RFS.
