Peace Garden News

U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer from North Dakota has joined a bipartisan coalition of Senate members, spearheaded by Senators John Thune of South Dakota and Dick Durbin of Illinois, in reaching out to President Donald Trump. The Senate group is urging the President to permit the year-round sale of E15 fuel across the United States. Specifically, they are requesting that President Trump applies nationwide temporary waivers provided under the Clean Air Act to extend the Reid vapor pressure waiver throughout the 2025 summer driving season. Senator Cramer supports the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's efforts to enable the continuous sale of E15 fuel via nationwide temporary waivers over recent years.

In their letter to the President, the Senators highlight the need for a comprehensive energy strategy that leverages domestic biofuels to meet the nation's energy needs and reduce fuel costs. They state, “To meet our nation’s energy needs and decrease the cost of fuel, we must deploy an all-of-the-above energy strategy, which includes leveraging domestic biofuels.” They add, “As affirmed by the actions you took to first allow year-round E15 in 2019, and those approved for the summers afterward, the sale of higher blends of biofuels like E15 through the summer months supports the domestic fuel supply, reduces consumer costs, and promotes American biofuels and agriculture feedstocks.”

The letter underscores, “Utilizing American ethanol year-round is a direct solution to reinforcing our energy supply and reducing consumer costs, and the issuance of a nationwide waiver for the 2025 summer driving season is a clear path toward these shared goals.”

The letter was endorsed by a number of other Senators including Tammy Baldwin, Tammy Duckworth, Joni Ernst, Deb Fischer, Chuck Grassley, Josh Hawley, John Hoeven, Amy Klobuchar, Jerry Moran, Gary Peters, Pete Ricketts, Mike Rounds, Elissa Slotkin, and Tina Smith.