U.S. House close to agreement on year-round E15

Lawmakers are nearing an agreement on legislation allowing year-round E15 sales and are making progress toward a U.S. House floor vote, despite missing a self-imposed late-February deadline for introducing legislation.

A snow storm that blasted the East Coast last week delayed meetings with lawmakers who were part of E15 negotiations, slowing momentum on the issue, Iowa Congressman Randy Feenstra told Agri-Pulse. The storm also forced the House Agriculture Committee to postpone markup of its farm bill proposal.

Reports from Washington indicate the House's Rural Domestic Energy Council, which is co-chaired by Feenstra and also includes Iowa Reps. Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn, is close to finalizing legislative language acceptable to E15 supporters and a group of mid-size oil refiners who opposed previously proposed E15 legislation.

"We want to get (it) released and get it to the floor, hopefully here very, very shortly," Feenstra said.

Farm Bureau supports legislation co-sponsored by Iowa's congressional delegation that would authorize year-round E15 sales in all 50 states, eliminating annual uncertainty regarding a Clean Air Act provision that restricts the sale of E15 in much of the country each summer.

A 5% increase in the average ethanol blend rate from E10 to E15 nationwide would translate to 6.8 billion gallons of ethanol, or roughly 2.4 billion bushels of corn a year.