Senate leaders are weighing when and how to move forward with year-round national sales of E15 gasoline following House passage of the legislation earlier this year. Supporters say the measure would lower costs for consumers. The evidence is less clear.
Before senators move forward, Americans deserve a closer look at whether those promised savings are real.
When pulling up to the pump, some Americans may notice a new option alongside regular and premium. E15, also called Unleaded 88, is now available at more than 3,000 stations nationwide and is becoming the focus of a major debate in Washington. The entire case for expanding E15 rests on the premise that it saves consumers money at the pump. But Americans deserve to know what they are actually buying before they reach for the nozzle.
Millions of vehicles and small engines currently in operation were not designed to use E15. Misfuelling can void warranties, damage equipment, and leave consumers facing costly repair bills. Boats, motorcycles, generators, and lawn equipment are especially vulnerable, as are other small engines and older vehicles. Yet many consumers remain unaware of the distinction between E10 and E15 when standing at the pump.
Ethanol contains roughly two-thirds of the energy of traditional gasoline, which means your engine burns through it faster and you fill up more often. What appears to be a discount ultimately leaves drivers spending more, not less. None of that is the core problem, however. The real issue is the federal policy driving E15 expansion.
The Renewable Fuel Standard, created in the mid-2000s, is a federal mandate that forces refiners to blend ethanol into the fuel supply. Compliance with the mandate adds a 30-cent-per-gallon cost to fuel. Consumers never see that charge itemized, but they pay it every time they fill up.
For years, policymakers have promised to lower energy costs for American families. Yet the Renewable Fuel Standard continues to impose costly federal mandates that make fuel more expensive throughout the supply chain. The result is effectively a hidden cost embedded in every gallon sold.
While supporters describe the proposed legislation as a simple consumer fuel choice, the bill eliminates small refinery exemptions, the only relief mechanism available to small and independent refiners trying to manage those federal compliance costs. Big oil giants can pay the price, but smaller ones need protection. Strip those away, and smaller refiners face mounting pressure, refining capacity tightens, and supply constraints push prices higher.
Less refining capacity means less fuel supply. Less fuel supply means higher prices. At a time when Americans remain concerned about inflation and affordability, Congress should not be advancing policies that make fuel more expensive to produce.
The clearest way to see who benefits from this arrangement is to ask who lobbied hardest to create it: the ethanol industry, which depends on federal mandates to maintain its market position.
Current Renewable Fuel Standard mandates are already at record levels and call for more ethanol than the market is projected to consume naturally. Expanding E15 increases pressure to raise those mandates even further, driving compliance costs higher and making fuel more expensive throughout the supply chain.
The winners are corn producers and the lobbying operations built around the Renewable Fuel Standard. The losers are everyday Americans: the drivers who thought they were getting a deal, the small-engine owners whose equipment is not compatible, the independent refiners losing their only protection, and the consumers who will pay the hidden compliance costs embedded in every gallon, either way.
Congress and the ethanol lobby are asking Americans to believe E15 is a simple consumer benefit. If that is true, why does it require federal mandates, emergency waivers, congressional intervention, and the elimination of long-standing refinery protections to succeed?
SHIPPING THROUGH STRAIT OF HORMUZ DECLARED DANGEROUS WITH IRAN CEASEFIRE IN JEOPARDY
The Senate has an opportunity to ask questions that the House ignored. Will this proposal actually lower costs for consumers? Will it protect drivers from misfuelling and vehicle damage? Will it preserve independent refining capacity and American energy security?
Until those questions are answered, lawmakers should be skeptical of claims that E15 expansion is a win for consumers.
Aiden Buzzetti is president of the Bull Moose Project.