Iowa, Nebraska Sue EPA Over Failure to Allow Summer Sales of E-15

(Radio Iowa) The states of Iowa and Nebraska are suing the Environmental Protection Agency. The attorneys general for the two states are accusing federal regulators of illegally delaying year-round sales of gas with a higher blend of 15 percent ethanol. Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird says Iowans are done waiting for access to E-15 in the summer months.

“We sent a notice to the EPA that we were going to sue them and that was signed by Nebraska and Iowa, so we’re working together on that one,” Bird says. In 2022, Governor Reynolds and the governors of six other Midwest states asked the E-P-A to allow E-15 sales in their states THIS summer.

“They haven’t done a thing,” Bird said. “They’re dragging their feet and so we’re going to take them to court and we’re going to get year-round E15.” The EPA has restricted sales of E-15 in the summer months, citing concerns about air pollution. Last year, however, E-15 sales WERE allowed during the summer months as a way to give consumers a cheaper fuel alternative after gas prices rose after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The E-P-A has granted a waiver that starts NEXT summer that will allow year-round sales of E-15 in Iowa and six other states, but Bird says that’s not good enough.

“The law says that if a governor notifies the EPA that they’d like to have year-round E15 that that has to happen within 90 days,” Bird says. “Governor Reynolds notified the EPA…well over a year ago.” In a written statement, Reynolds said the EPA is showing its disdain towards clean, renewable, American-produced ethanol.