Washington, D.C. – Today U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar announced the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allowed biofuels producers to register as suppliers for gas stations. The decision brings gasoline with blends of up to 15 percent ethanol (E15) one step closer to being approved for use at gas stations across the country. Chippewa Valley Ethanol and Cargill were among 20 companies allowed to register by the EPA today. Klobuchar said that increased use of biofuels will help strengthen America’s homegrown energy economy and offer consumers more choices at the gas pump.

“Today’s decision helps move us one step closer to E15 and higher blends of biofuels which will help consumers filling up their tanks,” Klobuchar said. “Providing Americans a choice at the pump will not only ease the burden on their pocketbooks; it will strengthen our homegrown energy economy and decrease our dependence on foreign oil.”

According to a Chicago Tribune study, homegrown energy production has helped keep prices down for consumers.  During the price spike in 2010, ethanol helped reduce gas prices by 89 cents per gallon nationally and by $1.37 per gallon in the Midwest. 

Late last week, Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), John Hoeven (R-ND), Roy Blunt (R-MO), and Mike Crapo (R-ID) introduced bipartisan legislation, the Domestic Fuels Act of 2012, which would help produce more energy, increase competition, promote alternative fuels, provide more consumer choice and lower the cost of fuels at the pump.

Earlier this year, the EPA completed a study which determined that E15 gasoline is safe to use in cars built since 2001. E15 has already been approved to use in cars older than 2001.

Klobuchar fought for the original waiver by the EPA that allowed E15 to be used in cars built between 2001 and 2006 - a move that cleared the path for up to 60 percent of cars and trucks currently on the road to run on E15. Minnesota has 21 ethanol plants that generated an estimated $3 billion in economic output and sustained nearly 8,400 jobs last year. Estimates show that the nationwide adoption of E15 could reduce the importation of up to seven billion gallons of gasoline per year and inject an estimated $24 billion into the U.S. economy.

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