Transportation coalition calls on committee chairman to drop opposition to year-round E15

In Washington, The National Association of Convenience Stores, NATSO, representing America’s Travel Centers and Truckstops, and SIGMA: America’s Leading Fuel Marketers sent a letter to Senator Tom Carper (D-DE), chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works, urging him to drop his opposition to the year-round sales of higher ethanol fuel blends.

“If enacted, such legislation would allow for more environmentally friendly fuel to be sold at a lower cost to consumers. As importantly, it would signal to the market that long-term investments in lower carbon transportation energy—including biofuels and EV charging stations—will be rewarded rather than punished. The legislation’s enactment would avoid unnecessary disruption, complexity and price-increases in U.S. gasoline markets this coming summer,” the letter read.

Carper, who is not running for reelection this year, is known for his desire to support “hardworking constituents at refineries in the mid-Atlantic,” the letter said. His opposition to bills that would permit sales of motor gasoline blended with 15% corn ethanol, known as E15, during the summer months would not fix the various problems those refineries face in the marketplace; and it causes them no harm whatsoever, the groups said.

The organizations explained in the letter, “Legislation to allow year-round E15, particularly if coupled with robust incentives for biofuel production and blending, would unlock private capital for low carbon fuel investments, reduce transportation emissions, and lower gas prices for consumers.”