Year-round ethanol blend bill passed by US House faces uncertain Senate path

‘Unique agreement’
  • Fuel options at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, gas station on Aug. 22, 2025. The nationwide average price of a gallon of gas was $4.55 May 22, 2026, up from $3.20 a year ago. The steep increase has turned some lawmakers’ attention alternative fuels like ethanol. (Photo by John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight
    Fuel options at a Sioux Falls, South Dakota, gas station on Aug. 22, 2025. The nationwide average price of a gallon of gas was $4.55 May 22, 2026, up from $3.20 a year ago. The steep increase has turned some lawmakers’ attention alternative fuels like ethanol. (Photo by John Hult/South Dakota Searchlight

    Proponents of ethanol, including lawmakers from corn-growing states, say year-round sales of a gasoline blend containing 15% of the biofuel would give consumers a less expensive alternative to fill their gas tanks, boost energy supplies and benefit agricultural interests.

    So why hasn’t Congress allowed it?

    There’s credible skepticism about those claims — and opposition from the strange bedfellows of…