WASHINGTON, DC – Growth Energy leaders say they continue to oppose legislation that would block Administration’s efforts to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, create jobs and strengthen our national security. An amendment, offered today by Reps. John Sullivan, R-Okla. and Gary Peters, D-Mich., would perpetuate America’s addiction to foreign oil and harm our economy by blocking the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency from implementing its approved waiver for E15 ethanol blends in America’s fuel supply.
“Blocking E15 would further put Libya, Venezuela and Iran at the steering wheel of our economy, and our national security. Ethanol is the only competition to foreign oil we have today, and E15 is a proven fuel for today’s autos that is cheaper than gasoline refined from foreign oil,” Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis. “The Sullivan/Peters amendment picks politics over science. As I have said over and over again, EPA’s approval of E15 was based on the most exhaustive and rigorous study of any fuel blend in history. Voting for this amendment is like voting to keep our nation addicted to foreign oil and all the economic and military consequences of that addiction.”
In a landmark regulatory decision in January, the EPA had approved E15 for all vehicles built in the last decade – about 151 million cars, or 67 percent of the country’s vehicles, which together consume 75 percent of the country’s fuel. The decision, in response to Growth Energy’s Green Jobs Waiver, was based solely on data collected from a rigorous, lengthy and extreme standard of testing on performance of engines, emissions systems and automobile drivability; E15 was found to work fine in all automobiles tested, from model year 2001 and newer. Use of E15 is voluntary.
###
About Growth Energy
Growth Energy represents the producers and supporters of ethanol who feed the world and fuel America in ways that achieve energy independence, improve economic well-being and create a healthier environment for all Americans now.