The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced two actions that together will permit gasoline containing up to 15 percent ethanol (E15) to be sold in all markets throughout the summer driving season and avoid disparate fuel specifications from state to state.
EPA’s first action was to issue an emergency waiver permitting E15 to be sold in all gasoline markets throughout the country. Federal law currently prohibits the sale of low-volatility gasoline during the summer months, but EPA has the authority to temporarily waive the requirements in emergency circumstances to address fuel shortages.
In response to ongoing fuel supply disruptions, EPA has utilized that authority for the last several years and permitted summertime E15 sales nationwide. EPA is now taking this same action for the 2025 summer driving season, citing “ongoing issues with gasoline supplies” in its decision to grant the waiver. EPA’s emergency fuel waiver will go into effect on May 1, 2025, and EPA has indicated it will renew the waiver throughout the summer driving season.
In its second action on April 28, 2025, EPA granted a request by seven Midwestern governors that would effectively allow those states a one-year reprieve from the consequences of their 2023 request to EPA that they be permitted to “opt out” of federal Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) rules. By seeking to opt out, those states seemingly intended to require lower RVP CBOB in order to accommodate E15 and E10 blending without running afoul of federal RVP restrictions. By granting the petition, EPA is essentially allowing those states to continue accommodating traditional summertime blendstocks for both E10 and E15 blends.
“We support the Environmental Protection Agency’s decisive actions today to both keep fuel prices low for American consumers while improving emissions from those fuels,” NATSO said in response to today’s actions. “The EPA inherited a challenging political conundrum from their predecessors on this one, and they soundly navigated it over the last several weeks to arrive at an elegant solution that is good for fuel retailers and their customers.”
Despite EPA’s use of its waiver authority in recent years, Congress has, for political reasons, been unable to fix the underlying restriction on E15 sales in many parts of the country due to a flawed, outdated federal law. NATSO continues to advocate for legislation that would provide a permanent, national solution to year-round E15 sales.
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