EPA’s Plan to Boost Ethanol Use in Gasoline Gets Hearing

biofuel

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — All sides of the ethanol and biofuels debate are getting the chance to weigh in on a federal agency’s proposal to boost the amount of renewable fuels blended into gasoline.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is holding its only public hearing Thursday in Kansas City, Missouri, on plan, announced last month, to boost output of biofuels next year and biomass-based diesel levels for 2018.

The EPA’s final rule is expected by the end of the year.

Next year’s target of 18.8 billion gallons of renewable fuels, mostly ethanol, is less than the 24 billion-gallon threshold set in a 2007 renewable fuels law.

Ethanol advocates largely in farming states want the target raised. Oil companies counter that the market, not the government, should determine how much ethanol is blended into gas.