Oil supplies are getting choked up thanks to the conflict in Iran. Pump prices are climbing. The Memorial Day road trip just got a lot more expensive.
Lee Zeldin, head of the EPA, wanted to help. Back in March he announced a waiver. It allowed the sale of E15 gasoline during the summer months. The waiver started on May 1. It was supposed to last for twenty days. Zeldin signaled it would likely stay put through the hot season to boost “fuel supply and consumer choice.”
Not that it’s a new trick. The EPA has done short-term waivers before. But this year is different. The House passed a bill on May 13. They want year-round sales of E15 to be permanent. If the Senate agrees, drivers might save some cash.
Or they might just breathe more poison.
What is ethanol anyway
Most American gas already has ethanol in it. Usually about 10 percent. This isn’t just petroleum. It’s fuel made from fermented biomass, typically corn.
This mix has roots in the Clean Air Act amendments of 1990. Later cemented by the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2005. The theory was simple. Ethanol has more oxygen than straight gas. It burns cleaner. Fewer carbon monoxide fumes. Fewer nitrogen oxides coming out of your tailpipe.
Lawmakers thought it would be kinder to the climate too. Holly Gibbs, a geographer at UW-Madison, explains the original hope.
The basic idea behind ethanol blending was thatReplacing some petroleum with plant-based fuel… the carbon released… was assumed to be offset by corn absorbing CO₂.
It hasn’t panned out like that. Cornfields are expanding. The land use changes create their own climate headaches. Farmers love the program, of course. Ethanol markets for 40 percent of US corn crops.
Why no E15 in July
E15 contains between 10.5 percent and 15 percent ethanol15 percent ethanol is a big deal for car manufacturers. It’s only legal in light-duty vehicles built after 2001. And flexible fuel vehicles that can handle up to 83% blends.
You can’t usually buy it in the summer. Why?
Burn that extra ethanol and it releases volatile organic gases. Mix that with sunlight. Add nitrogen oxides from other cars. You get acetaldehyde. That’s a main ingredient in ground-level ozone.
Bad stuff for your lungs. It causes wheezing. Asthma attacks. It builds smog. Sure, stratospheric ozone protects us from UV rays. But the kind at ground level is toxic.
Heat speeds up the chemical reaction. So does sunlight. That makes summer the worst time to release these gases. It hurts most in places that don’t already have plenty of organic gases in the air. The Southeast is fine, largely thanks to vegetation that already dumps those gases naturally. Mark Jacobson at Stanford studies this pollution closely.
In places like Atlanta it’s not a huge spike. But Los Angeles is different. LA struggles with reactive gases already. Keeping them low matters for smog. Hence the seasonal ban.
Farmers vs. Smog
The waivers please farmers. More ethanol demand means higher corn prices. That helps offset the financial hit they took when diesel and fertilizer costs skyrocketed due to the Iran tensions. Carl Runge at the University of Minnesota points out the political pressure too. The administration needs farmers on side.
How accessible is the fuel?
About 3,00 gas stations can dispense E15 nationally. That’s roughly 2 percent of pumps. Is it cheaper?
Probably. Prices shift with corn and oil costs, but expect E15 to sell for 5 to 40 cents less per gallon than E10 this summer. Catch though. Ethanol is less efficient. You might have to fill the tank more often.
Will it ruin our health?
Given how few pumps actually stock E15 and the relatively low concentration of ethanol involved, the immediate health hit will be small, according to Jacobson.
The bigger picture
This isn’t the first waiver. They’ve been issued every summer since 2018. The Renewable Fuel Standard is actually pushing for more biofuels through 2025. Some ag advocates want 85 percent ethanol blends eventually.
Is it really green?
An influential 2009 study from Argonne said yes. Between 205 and 019 they claimed corn ethanol cut emissions by 544019. They claimed corn ethanol reduced carbon intensity by 23%.
Others disagree sharply. A 2202 study by Gibbs flipped the script. Count the land conversion costs—clearing land for more cornfields. Ethanol increases greenhouse gases by 24%.
The intensive farming hits water quality too. It demands heavy fertilizer use. Jacobson’s work paints a grim picture of the high-ethanol future. Moving to 85 percent gasoline blends could mean 7 to 13 deaths per year. It could cause 1200 extra ER visits for asthma.
Both gasoline and ethanol are bad, Jacobson said. And the solution is really to go electric.
Maybe. But until then, the pumps stay open. And the air stays thick.
