Contact:

Matt Dempsey Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-9797

Katie Brown Katie_Brown@epw.senate.gov (202) 224-2160

Court Decision on E15 Waiver a Huge Loss for American Consumers

Washington, D.C. - Senator James Inhofe (R-Okla.), Ranking Member of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, commented on today's ruling by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to uphold the Obama Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) E15 Waiver, under which EPA plans to permit higher-level blends of ethanol to be sold as conventional gasoline.

"The federal court's decision to uphold EPA's plan to permit higher-level blends of ethanol is a huge loss for Oklahomans and consumers nationwide," Senator Inhofe said. "My constituents in Oklahoma want to be able to use fuel compatible with their vehicles, without having to worry about what kind of damage higher blends of ethanol will do to their engines. This ruling just enables EPA to continue pushing too much corn ethanol too fast through the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), a program that has had negative impacts on the safety of those operating vehicles and other equipment as well as food prices.

"I voted against the 2007 Energy Bill because I knew that dramatically and rapidly increasing the mandated volumes was a bad idea. As this ruling demonstrates, Congress needs to step in with a legislative fix - that's why I've introduced S. 1085, the Fuel Feedstock Freedom Act, which would help mitigate some of the negative impacts of this policy by giving states the option not to participate in the corn ethanol portion of the Renewable Fuel Standard. Today's court ruling should be a wake-up call for the United States Senate to do its job, hold hearings on RFS2, and address the adverse impacts of this unrealistic program."

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