House Reps Try to Reconcile Farm and Oil Interests in E15 Talks
The Daily Signal 2/12/2026 2:00:00 PM
 

A congressional task force soon plans to release a compromise between corn farmer and oil refinery interests that could reshape the American energy industry.

“They’re going great,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wis., told The Daily Signal on Wednesday of talks to secure nationwide authorization for the year-round sale of E15, a gasoline whose composition is 15% ethanol—an alcohol that can be derived from corn. The default for regular gasoline is 10% ethanol.

To resolve disagreements between oil refinery and farm interests, Republicans have formed the E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council, an all-Republican effort spearheaded by Reps. Stephanie Bice of Oklahoma and Randy Feenstra of Iowa

Under a deal with House leadership, the council has a Feb. 15 deadline to submit legislative proposals, and leadership has until Feb. 25 to put it on the floor for a vote.

“We’re going to have a draft product out here very soon. We’re still negotiating, and it is imprudent to discuss negotiations,” Van Orden said.

E15

Currently, E15 is effectively forbidden by the Clean Air Act from being sold in the summertime. This is due to concerns about smog, as the E15 blend evaporates more quickly into the atmosphere than regular gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency regularly provides summertime waivers to allow for its sale, but pro-corn members are seeking to codify the gas’ availability to provide market certainty and an expanded market to corn farmers.

“E15 is an important public policy choice,” Rep. Derek Schmidt, R-Kan., told The Daily Signal on Wednesday.

“It doesn’t cost the taxpayers or the government a nickel. It is not a mandate. To the contrary, it is the elimination of a government regulation which is precluding the market from functioning in the manner that consumers want it to function,” he added.

Disagreements

Recently, midwestern members sought to eliminate the E15 prohibition with a provision in a package of spending bills. 

But pro-ethanol language was ultimately scrubbed from the package after some members complained of its potential effects on refiners in their districts.

Under law, refiners are obligated to blend biofuels, such as ethanol, with petroleum. 

This President George W. Bush-era policy, known as the Renewable Fuel Standard, was originally meant to promote American energy independence and support the biofuel industry. 

One way of getting around noncompliance penalties is a “small refinery exemption,” under which a small refinery can prove the standard is causing it economic hardship.

The more refineries that manage to use this exemption, the less demand there is for ethanol.

Rep. Harriet Hageman, a Republican representing Wyoming’s at-large congressional district, took issue with a provision that would have narrowed the definition of small refineries in addition to allowing for annual E15 sales.

Since Wyoming only has small refineries, this redefinition would be a problem for businesses in Hageman’s state, which could lose their exemption.

“Any changes to the definition of ‘small refinery’ will structurally disadvantage refineries in Wyoming and across the country,” Hageman warned at the inception of the task force. “We do not need to destroy small refineries in the pursuit of E15. … I need to fight for my businesses.”

The Council

“It’s unfortunate that what was widely believed to be an agreement turned out to not be a universal agreement,” Schmidt told The Daily Signal on Wednesday of Congress’ failure to codify year-round E15.

But Schmidt added that “this extension of time gives more opportunity to make sure everybody is engaged.”

Some members have made their goals known.

Van Orden made clear from the beginning of the task force that he would be seeking changes to the definition of small refineries.

“These larger conglomerates have been getting a bunch of smaller refineries and operating them under a large umbrella and saying that they’re separate, independent small refineries, which they’re not,” Van Orden said in a late January interview with a midwestern agricultural news outlet.

“We need to lay out exactly … how the large refineries compare to the small refineries,” said Van Orden, who recommended that the definition factor in geography, profit, and employees rather than just the number of barrels produced a day.

Blending Mandates

Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a member of the task force, told The Daily Signal on Tuesday that his major contention in the E15 talks involved the blending mandates.

“The process is working as it should, and good people are having good conversations,” said Roy. “I still have a very strong objection to going year-round E15 without peeling back the Renewable Fuel Standard.”

Roy continued, “I don’t think you can have your cake and eat it too. If the market’s good, and you think the market’s working, and you think you should be able to have E15 year-round, then let’s let the market work. You don’t need mandates, and you don’t need the Renewable Fuel Standard, which is messing things up for small refiners.”

Schmidt, who says he has been involved in E15 talks, told The Daily Signal that calls to change the standard are “legitimate discussions to have,” but his north star is “to get the government’s thumb off the scale with respect to E15, and let the market sort out whether you use it year-round or not based on consumer choice.”

He said a workable agreement “may include [Renewable Fuel Standard] as it is” or “the [Renewable Fuel Standard] in a slightly different way.”

The post House Reps Try to Reconcile Farm and Oil Interests in E15 Talks appeared first on The Daily Signal.