Iowa U.S. Senator Ernst Clashes With EPA On E15 Infrastructure Compatibility
Last week, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) sent a letter to EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler urging the Administration to green light E15 to be sold in existing infrastructure and remove the E15 warning label from dispensers through a rulemaking by October 4th.
PMAA has been a proponent of not only retaining the label but requiring advertising and branding for ethanol blends greater than E10 to include the ethanol content in the product name and advertisements.
This approach is not intended to discourage the purchase of E15, but rather to identify the product to be purchased so consumers can make an informed decision.
Generic branding and advertising are like selling 1 percent, 2 percent, and whole milk as milk and burying the fat content in the nutrition facts label on the container.
U.S. Senator Ernst is facing a tough reelection battle as her opponent, businesswoman Theresa Greenfield, has criticized Ernst for her vote to confirm Wheeler.
Earlier this summer, U.S. Senator Ernst blocked the nomination for EPA deputy administrator until the agency gives further details on how it plans to handle the dozens of new requests from refineries for exemptions from their biofuel blending requirements.
PMAA plans to submit comments on a future rulemaking and will highlight the EPA’s Office of Underground Storage Tanks (OUST) concerns with E15 compatibility and existing infrastructure.
