Biden waiving ethanol rule in bid to lower gasoline prices

President Joe Biden is visiting corn-rich Iowa on Tuesday to announce he’ll suspend a federal rule and allow the sale of higher-ethanol gasoline this summer, trying to tamp down prices at the pump that have spiked during Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10% ethanol. The Environmental Protection Agency will issue an emergency waiver to allow widespread sale of a 15% ethanol blend that is usually prohibited between June 1 and Sept. 15 because of concerns that it adds to smog in high temperatures.

Senior Biden administration officials said the action will save drivers an average of 10 cents per gallon, but at just 2,300 gas stations. Those stations are mostly in the Midwest and the South, including Texas, according to industry groups.

Biden is expecting to make the announcement Tuesday afternoon. Watch the announcement by clicking the link or in the player below.

Biden is facing growing political pressure over inflation, and new data Tuesday showed prices rising at the fastest pace in more than 40 years, driven in part by soaring energy costs during the Russia-Ukraine war. The Labor Department said its consumer price index jumped 8.5% in March from 12 months earlier, the biggest year-over-year increase since December 1981.

Gas prices accounted for more than half of the monthly jump, and food and housing costs also climbed in ways that could weigh on families. Inflation began to accelerate last year amid robust hiring after the passage of Biden’s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief package, a challenge for U.S. consumers that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine then amplified.

Administration officials said the EPA has determined that the “emergency” step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer is not likely to have a significant air quality impact. That’s despite some environmentalists long arguing that more ethanol in gasoline increases pollution, especially during warmer summer months.

Biden was announcing the move at a biofuel company in Menlo, west of Des Moines. Iowa is the country’s largest producer of corn, key to producing ethanol.

Administration officials said the EPA has determined that the “emergency” step of allowing more E15 gasoline sales for the summer is not likely to have a significant air quality impact. That’s despite some environmentalists long arguing that more ethanol in gasoline increases pollution, especially during warmer summer months.

Biden was announcing the move at a biofuel company in Menlo, west of Des Moines. Iowa is the country’s largest producer of corn, key to producing ethanol.