CEO: The time is ripe for yearround E15

Bill now awaiting action in U.S. Senate

ERIN MURPHY

Gazette Des Moines Bureau

DES MOINES — To Emily Skor, the CEO of the national biofuels trade organization Growth Energy, there has never been a better opportunity for advocates to convince federal lawmakers to make the sale of E15 ethanol blend available year-round.

Rising costs of doing business and low crop prices have placed significant stress on corn farmers and the renewable fuels industry, and high gas prices are stressing Americans’ wallets.

“We’ve never had this much momentum and this much of a sense of urgency,” Skor said last week. “And it’s palp a b l e .”

Skor spoke to The Gazette via phone about the industry’s attempts to convince federal lawmakers to pass legislation that would make E15 available for sale year-round.

The U.S. House passed the bill May 13. It has not yet been considered in the Senate.

Under federal law, E15 gasoline, which contains a higher ethanol blend, can be sold only during non-summer months. The federal Environmental Protection Agency in March — for the fifth consecutive year — issued a temporary waiver to allow E15 sales to continue through the summer this year.

Advocates — including Skor and Growth Energy — have called for federal policy that would permanently make E15 available yearround.

The House passed the bill, and President Donald Trump has said — in Iowa — that he would sign it into law.

The measure has not yet been taken up in the Senate, where any bill that passes must have the support of at least 60 members to avoid the filibuster, a procedural tool available to any member that stalls legislation.

Skor

Iowa’s congressional delegation and statewide leaders have supported a year-round E15 policy.

The interview with Skor has been edited only for clarity and brevity.

Q: Let’s start with the U.S. House passing the E15 bill. That must have felt to you like a great achievement.

A: It was. We worked very hard on that. We’ve been talking a lot as an industry — we have not had an up-or-down vote on an ethanol issue in decades in Congress. So this was a big moment for us. It’s obviously the top priority of the industry for ethanol producers, for corn growers.

There were a lot of members of Congress who we had to educate about — well beyond the Corn Belt.

The industry did a terrific job. A lot of people came to Washington so we could have real-time, in-person conversations, educating lawmakers that we don’t typically talk to.

I think at the end of the day, a very compelling point was the gas savings and the fact that this is consumer choice. So I think for a lot of (U.S. House) members, the reaction was, “Well, that seems kind of like a no-brainer. I don’t know why I wouldn’t support that.”

And we have a very broad coalition of support. It was a little bit of a nail biter at the end. But the other thing that was very nice, but also very necessary, was that we had broad, bipartisan support, which is reflective of where we typically are as an industry. It was terrific to see 95 Democrats voting for that. So we’re very excited, we have good momentum, and, of course, now we move to the Senate.

Q: There are a couple different ways this could go in the Senate. In your view, is there a path to 60 senators supporting the stand-alone bill and avoiding the filibuster?

A: We’re figuring that out. … Just as we built a coalition and a compromise in the House, we’re going to have to do the same in the Senate. And I imagine the contours are going to be similar because the discussion is still very much, “All right, we’ve got year-round E15 and then there’s a really strong desire among the oil refiners to address small refinery exemptions.

… I think what’s working for us is the fact that we’ve got momentum from the House. (Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.) has been on the record and vocal recently that this is something that’s a priority. Both the president and the vice president in Iowa have said, “Hey, Congress, send us a bill.

This is important.” So, to be determined. But I think at the end of the day, what’s the most likely path is that this would be added to a larger bill that’s going to be moving.

Q: In which larger bill might the E15 measure be included? The farm bill?

A budget bill? A bill with spending on the Iran war? A : All the vehicles are being talked about. Everyone is going to kind of cherry-pick their favorite one. … I think what is consistent is the perspective that this is most likely going to be moved in conjunction with something bigger. … Some discussion of the farm bill, maybe Iran funding. But right now, I couldn’t pinpoint. … I don’t know that anybody can.

Q: With gas prices high, is there a sense of urgency from advocates that this is an especially ripe time to get this bill passed?

A: Yes, because it’s so top of mind. You’re always going to save money on E15. Historically, the data have shown that. Any member of Congress from any part of the country understands their voters are spending more for gas than they have in the past four years. So you’re hitting something that’s really going to resonate a little bit more than it typically would. Because (members of the Senate) are like, “Oh, man, I’m hearing about this at home.” And we know that from all the conversations that we’ve been having on the House side.

Q: And from the industry’s side, is there an urgency to get this done because of the pressures they’re facing, whether it’s on trace policy or crop prices?

A: Absolutely. When you look at the farm economy, input prices, Chapter 12 bankruptcies — we’ve lost almost 150,000 farms in the last five years — so all of the farmers that we have been talking with, who have been engaging and advocating alongside us, this is incredibly top of mind for them. Because they need markets and they don’t want a government check. They need a market.

They see all of these dynamics, and, for them, a ready solution is, “Give me a U.S. market for a U.S. commodity.” It’s right here. It’s American energy dominance. It’s American energy security that extends the supply of liquid fuels. And these are all things that everybody’s talking about right now. … I just came from an industry event and all anyone is talking about is, “What does it look like?”

All the questions you just asked me are what I’ve been answering for two days. Because it is the No. 1 priority of the industry. … We’ve never had this much momentum and this much of a sense of urgency, and it’s palpable. The need is so strong, the desire is so strong. … This will persist until we get a solution.

Erin Murphy covers state government and politics forThe Gazette. He can be reached at erin. murphy@thegazette.com or (515) 355-1300.

Emily Skor, the CEO of Growth Energy, speaks lastWednesday at the annual FEW Fuel Ethanol Workshop and Expo in St. Louis.

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