Over the last few years, Iowa families and farmers have been forced to empty their wallets at the gas station as fuel costs soared nationwide. Between federal restrictions on domestic energy production and record inflation, the average price of gas eclipsed nearly five dollars last summer, draining family budgets and stretching paychecks thin. Fortunately, in Iowa, we have a homegrown solution to meet our energy needs: E-15.
E-15 – a gas blend of 15% ethanol – is a low-cost, low-carbon alternative to standard gasoline that can lower gas prices for Iowa families, support Iowa’s corn growers, and make our country energy independent again. In 2021 alone, a record 814 million gallons of E-15 was sold in the United States, saving drivers roughly 22 cents a gallon and keeping costs low for families.
Because of E-15’s many benefits, I recently teamed up with Governor Reynolds and my colleagues in Congress to urge the Biden Administration to allow E-15 – which is typically prohibited from being sold in the summer – to be sold at the pump 365 days a year permanently and nationwide. This is a commonsense approach that would save American drivers $20.6 billion in annual fuel costs, support 188,000 new good-paying jobs, and generate $66.3 billion towards our GDP. It would also help protect our environment by eliminating an estimated 17 million tons of carbon emissions per year and ending our reliance on dirty foreign oil imports. Ultimately. arbitrary restrictions on E-15 sales hurt our families and their wallets, which a simple waiver by the Biden Administration would solve.
As the top ethanol-producing district in the nation, Iowa’s 4th Congressional District has an outsized role to play to make E-15 available year-round and deliver relief for families nationwide when they fill up their cars and trucks. In Congress, I will continue to petition the Biden Administration to cut burdensome red tape and unleash the unlimited potential of year-round E-15 for our families, farmers, small businesses, and rural main streets. American drivers are counting on us to succeed.
We are government together, and your thoughts and opinions matter to me. Please contact my office at Feenstra.House.Gov or by phone at 202-225-4426 if I can ever be of assistance. I am proud to represent our families, farmers, main street businesses, and rural communities in Congress.
