(Reuters) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued an emergency waiver for a higher-ethanol gasoline blend on Friday, allowing summertime sales of the fuel in an attempt to help lower gasoline prices at the pump.
The move represents a temporary win for the biofuels industry and corn farmers, as it will likely expand sales of corn-based ethanol, and a setback for oil refiners, which view ethanol as competition.
It also is an attempt to temper the pace of inflation which has surged to a 16-year high.
Rising consumer prices are seen as a major vulnerability for President Joe Biden’s Democratic party leading into the November mid-term elections.
Biden first unveiled the plans to expand E15 sales earlier this month during a trip to an Iowa ethanol plant.
About 2,500 gas stations sell the higher-ethanol gasoline blend, called E15, as it is made up of 15% ethanol. There are more than 100,000 gas stations nationwide.
At current prices, E15 can save a family 10 cents per gallon of gas on average, said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki in a statement on Friday.