AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
When you fill up your car, what comes out of the pump is usually not just gasoline. It's a mix that includes ethanol, a biofuel made from corn. Usually, that mix is 10% ethanol, 90% gasoline. But there's a push to boost that to 15% ethanol called E15. Backers say that would help American farmers, who are struggling right now. And they say it would make gas cheaper. Last week, the U.S. House passed a bill that would allow E15 year-round and nationwide. Joining us now is Elizabeth Elkin. She's a reporter at Bloomberg who covers biofuels. Thank you for being here.
ELIZABETH ELKIN: Hi. Thanks for having me.
RASCOE: So obviously, the idea of cheaper gas sounds pretty great right now. But would more ethanol in gas actually bring down prices?
ELKIN: Yeah, it's a great question. Biofuels advocates say it will. They say that because ethanol is currently cheaper than gasoline, because of all of the things going on in the world - right? - that increasing the amount of ethanol sold will ease those costs for consumers. When you go to put gas in your car, if you're at a station that sells E15, you'll see that the sticker price is probably significantly cheaper than other types of gas. So that gives the biofuels advocates some weight. But it is a little bit more complicated than just sticker price at the pump, right?
So federal law requires refiners to blend a certain amount of biofuels into gasoline and diesel every year. That's been around for decades. It was put in place to build up domestic demand for biofuels and to support, like, rural communities where farmers live. Smaller refiners are exposed to high costs of complying with obligations to blend. It's an enormous expense for some refiners. And they say that rising costs to comply with that program, which is just rising, you know, amounts of biofuels that they need to blend, means higher costs for consumers overall.
RASCOE: OK. But is there a neutral source who could tell us - is it going to bring down costs or not? Do we know?
ELKIN: I think it's really hard to tell. I mean, the other thing here is that if we're looking for an immediate solution to gas prices, even if it passes the Senate, even if the president signs it, you're not immediately going to see E15 at all of these gas stations that didn't previously sell it because there are a lot of gas stations that will need to put in new equipment. Some of it - it's as simple as, like, we're going to switch out the sticker on the pump, right? But some of it is literally, you have to put in new tanks. And that's very, very expensive.
RASCOE: So it's a lot of questions about how this is all going to work out. That's what it seems like.
ELKIN: That's exactly right. And it's very, very complicated, and the general consumer has no idea what E15 even is, right?
RASCOE: Yes.
ELKIN: And so it's interesting. I mean, I don't know about you. But when I open, like, Facebook right now, I am just getting so many ads for E15. I have people screenshot ads for E15 and send them to me, which is not something you normally see on this beat.
(LAUGHTER)
RASCOE: Well, what about the impact for farmers? Obviously, they've been facing...
ELKIN: Yeah.
RASCOE: ...Higher costs due to tariffs and the war in Iran, and there have been problems with exports. How much would E15 help farmers?
ELKIN: Farmers think that it will significantly help them, corn farmers in particular. Corn is the most widely planted crop in the U.S., and corn farmers are experiencing huge, ballooning crop sizes. So they've got a lot more corn than they used to, right? And then they're looking for new sources of demand. You need to sell it to someone. And so they see E15 - because it's a higher content of ethanol, so that means more corn goes into it - right? - they see that as a huge source of potential demand for them at this time when we're seeing, like you said, the rising cost of everything from, you know, diesel for their tractors or fertilizer. I mean, you see news headlines everywhere about fertilizer prices skyrocketing. And these farmers - they need something to help them.
RASCOE: So this has passed the House, but where do things stand with the Senate and with President Trump?
ELKIN: Yeah. So it passed the House in a really interesting vote. You know, I think this is one of the few things that I see where you get support from a lot of Republicans and Democrats - right? - because you've got farm-state Democrats who want to support their farmers who are hearing from corn farmers, we need E15. We've needed E15 for, you know - they've been working on this for a decade. And then you've got some Republicans who are opposing this legislation because it would cut relief for small refineries, so then that would hurt communities that rely on them.
President Trump has repeatedly said that he is pro-E15. You know, farmers are a really important base for him, and he really wants to show support for those farmers. So it is unclear whether it would pass the Senate, but the president has said that he supports E15.
RASCOE: That was Elizabeth Elkin, biofuels reporter with Bloomberg. Thank you so much for joining us.
ELKIN: Thanks so much. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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