Center for Advanced BioEnergy Research, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Vilsack expects E15 decision by next month

Truth About Trade & Technology
Friday, 24 September 2010 23:40
Brownfield Ag Network
By Tom Steever
September 21, 2010
http://www.brownfieldagnews.com/

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack is confident that the Environmental Protection Agency will raise the current 10-percent ethanol blend cap to 15 percent, and that the new blend will be selling by next spring. But instead of expecting the decision by late summer, Vilsack now expects the EPA announcement by early to mid-October.

According to a DTN report, the EPA is holding off a final decision until the Department of Energy completes testing of higher ethanol blends on 2007 and newer vehicles, which is expected to be done by the end of September. EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson says Department of Energy testing of 2001 to 2006 vehicles should be wrapped up by the end of November, with a decision about whether to grant a waiver on those shortly thereafter.

Vilsack says that even if EPA approves E15 for some, but not all vehicles, it will still help expand the market.

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