Peach Tree Times

As inflation ramps up, President Biden has made several critical decisions in his effort to bring down gas prices for Americans, none of which include increasing domestic production. His latest announcement involves an unlikely embrace of fossil fuels.

 On April 12, the president announced he was calling on the EPA to waive the summertime ban on E15 gasoline— a move that might be good for corn growers, but is bad for engines, bad for the environment and bad for fuel efficiency.

"Today, I am announcing that the Environmental Protection Agency is planning to issue an emergency waiver to allow E15 gasoline — gasoline that uses more ethanol from home-grown crops— to be sold across the U.S. this summer in order to increase fuel supply and lower prices,” Biden wrote in a recent tweet.

While E15, a type of gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend and 85% gasoline, is typically banned during the warm summer months under the Clean Air Act due to air pollution concerns, it is set to be sold in the U.S. this summer in an effort to expand Americans’ access to affordable fuel supply. 

According to the White House, at current prices, E15 can save a family 10 cents per gallon of gas on average, though The Drive reports that to most American drivers, E15 won't be worth the saved 10 cents. The increased amount of ethanol in E15 decreases gas mileage in most cars, causing drivers to spend more on gasoline, and may even damage car engines.

NPR says that compared with E10 gas, there is limited infrastructure to sell E15 gasoline because not all vendors are willing to invest in a product that cannot be sold year-round. According to the Department of Energy, E15 gas is only available at about 2,300 fueling stations nationwide.

This comes as E85prices.com, a site that tracks the cost and availability of alternative fuel, reports there are only 10 gas stations selling E15 in Georgia. Seven of these are located in metro Atlanta.

According to ARS Technica, E15 is proven to lower fuel efficiency in cars and is bad news for climate change. In hot weather, the biofuel blend contributes to smog.

Biden's previous attempts to bring down the price of gas include the release of up to 180 million barrels of crude oil from the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve over the next 6 months, an announcement Biden made on April 1.