The long-awaited push for year-round E15 approval has come. However, EPA’s sign-off doesn’t start until 2024 in eight states. The agency pushed the revised proposal forward at the national ethanol conference in Florida this week, saying a public comment period is underway in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin.

North Dakota was a part of the ask but did not make the cut for agency approval. EPA’s deputy director of transportation and air quality told the ethanol industry that those eight states provided enough information to support the E15 permanency.

However, the Biden administration still hasn’t taken action to allow E15 sales this summer. Renewable fuel industry leaders questioned EPA at the conference on why they delayed the proposal nearly ten months, saying the lapse in time impacts thousands of fuel retailers and millions of consumers.

Read more on the E15 announcement and response from the industry here.