Farmers Input Needed For E-15 Gas

The Minnesota Corn Growers Association is asking farmers to email a comment to the Environmental Protection Agency supporting changing the rules to allow E15 sales year around. The Environmental Protection Agency has published a proposed rule change and the public comment period is now open until April 29, 2019.

"It's time to remove this outdated barrier to year round sales of E15. Farmers will benefit from increasing sales of higher blends through growing demand for corn, while consumers will benefit from lower fuel prices and lower emissions." In addition the gasoline retailers want to offer this fuel too.

Each year a little over 5 billion bushel of corn is used in the ethanol industry. The Federal Energy Information Administration releases a monthly report that shows total gasoline and ethanol used the prior month. On average every gallon of gasoline is blended with 11 percent ethanol. That is above the normal 10 percent because some motorists have flex-fuel vehicles and use higher blends of ethanol.

Even increasing the ethanol blend nation wide by 2 or 3 percent would use a lot more corn and hopefully increase the price of corn. So, go to the Minnesota Corn Growers Association web site where there is a link to send your comment to the Environmental Protection Agency.