USDA’s projection of a record 17-billion-bushel corn crop is turning up the heat on lawmakers to get nationwide, year-round E15 legislation passed in Congress.
Analysis from the National Corn Growers Association (NCGA) indicates that would boost corn use by approximately 2.4 billion bushels annually and be one of the quickest ways to increase demand and chew through the record pile of corn in the U.S.
Is the Time Finally Right?
The political climate might finally be right to pass year-round E15 legislation. Biofuels leaders, including Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, are optimistic about attaching a bill to the mini-omnibus appropriations bill or the Continuing Resolution (CR) at the end of January.
“We know there’s going to be another CR bill at the end of January to hopefully avoid another shutdown, but the bottom line is we have to get it done,” Cooper says. “I don’t want to say it’s now or never, but the period between now and early 2026 is really our best shot at getting this legislation done.”
Bipartisan Support for E15
Cooper says there’s growing bipartisan support for E15 in Congress and even from the oil industry.
“We had 70 ag and biofuel groups at the state level, at the federal level, that sent a letter on that last week,” Cooper says. “It’s gotten a very good response. We’re hearing a lot more chatter on the Hill today about this being a priority. Senator Grassley’s been talking about this every chance he gets, but we also have Whip Emmer talking about E15.”
He adds that a year ago the biofuels industry was close to having that legislation done and across the goal line.
“We think we’re pretty close again this year,” Cooper says.
House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member and Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., is leading efforts in the House co-sponsoring the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act with Rep. Adrian Smith, R-Neb. She reiterated her support at the American Farm Bureau convention in Anaheim, Calif., this week.
“We need more domestic markets in this nation, and so I’m going to be looking for year-round E15, higher blends of ethanol, sustainable aviation fuel,” Craig says. “We have to be thinking about that.”
Similar legislation has been introduced in the Senate by Nebraska’s Deb Fischer, with bipartisan support including Senate Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.
“I actually would love to see year-round E15 and some of the work that we could do on that front that, because of the procedural rules, they couldn’t get done in some of the other bills or we couldn’t get done,” Klobuchar says. “I think that would be a really good thing.”
Trump Administration Calls on Congress to Get It Done
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins, also speaking at AFBF convention, said the administration supports E15 and last summer used temporary waivers to allow gas retailers to sell E15, but a nationwide fix is needed.
“While the Trump Administration has gone as far as providing E15 waivers, Congress must now do its job to pass year-round nationwide E15 legislation to continue to drive domestic crop demand,” Rollins says.
She adds that ethanol and other biofuels will also get a boost from new, higher RVO blending levels in 2026 and 2027 offered in the Renewable Fuels Standard.
“EPA has also proposed the highest and most aggressive volume obligations RVO proposal in history,” Rollins says.
E15 in California Provides a Boost
Meanwhile, Cooper says the California legislature approved E15 in 2025, and the bill was signed into law last October so that corn demand will show up soon.
“You know, if that state moves entirely to E15, it’s a big, big demand boost for our industry,” Cooper says. “That would be another 500 or 600 million gallons of ethanol; that’s another 200 million bushels of corn grind.”
This and year round E15 would be a critical change and its needed with many farmers looking at cash corn prices under $4 and NCGA projecting $180 per acre net loss for 2026.
