White House asks Congress for permanent year-round E15 as India's top court freezes ethanol allocation
The White House on Wednesday asked Congress to pass a bill making year-round E15 sales permanent. It is the first time the second Trump administration has gone to lawmakers for the higher-ethanol blend rather than patching it with a waiver. E15, sold as Unleaded 88, runs 15 percent ethanol against the 10 percent in standard gasoline. Federal rules bar it from June through September over smog concerns, and the EPA waived that ban in March only through this summer. A permanent fix would give corn growers and ethanol plants a fourth selling season every year. Wisconsin lawmakers from both parties are already behind it.
India's allocation freeze
India's Supreme Court ordered status quo on a Karnataka High Court ruling that told BPCL, HPCL and Indian Oil to weigh a bigger ethanol allocation for the 2025-26 supply year. BPCL brought the plea. Attorney General R Venkataramani argued the supply contracts for the current cycle were already finished in October 2025, and that reopening them could unravel the national 20 percent blending target. The bench of Justices MM Sundresh and Sheel Nagu issued notice and froze the High Court order for now.
The fight started when VINP Distilleries and Sugars filed an October 27 representation asking for more volume. The government told the court that blending is still an experiment, with results expected next year, even as it pushes E20 into pumps nationwide.
Buffalo Biodiesel
Buffalo Biodiesel locked in a $300 million capital partnership with Verite Capital Partners and named Frank Balon president and chief legal officer to run the expansion. The company, founded in 2005, collects used cooking oil from more than 30,000 restaurants across 15 states, one of the larger such operations in the Northeast. The plan stretches it to 25 states along a Montreal-to-Miami corridor and could add more than 600 jobs.
What to watch
Whether Congress moves the E15 bill before the EPA waiver runs out at the end of summer, or leaves the blend stuck in another round of stopgaps. Trump has also floated $11.1 billion in farm aid, and farm-state lawmakers may tie that money to the ethanol vote. Economist David Widmar told the Governor's Ag Summit in South Dakota that resumed China trade and year-round E15 could both help the farm economy, though he warned growers to balance the optimism against a tough year.
In India, watch for the next hearing date on BPCL's plea and whether other distillers file similar claims. The oil marketers want to head off a wave of copycat filings.