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Missouri Corn frustrated as Congress punts year-round E15

The CEO of the Missouri Corn Growers Association says he’s frustrated with the lack of progress in Congress to allow year-round E15, nationwide.

Bradley Schad tells Brownfield “we needed this change. We’ve been working on it for the last 13 years and Congress just punted the ball again.”

Schad says oil refiners with multiple small refineries were able to persuade House leaders to keep E15 out of a new spending package.

House Republicans have set up an E-15 Rural Domestic Energy Council to study E15 and decide the right language for legislation. It’s got a deadline of February 15 to submit legislative proposals, and the end of February for lawmakers to reach an agreement.

But Schad says anything could happen by then.

“It’s crazy we have to waste government tax payer dollars to go through an emergency rulemaking process to make this happen. If Congress would just do their job, we could have this accomplished.”

Schad says oil refiners need certainty as they decide which fuel blends they’ll offer in the summertime, and U.S. corn farmers need a growing ethanol market as they deal with challenging prices.

Hear Brownfield’s interview with Bradley Schad.