EPA says it needs another year to see if vehicles can stand more ethanol in gasoline

The Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday that it will take another year of testing to determine whether higher levels of ethanol can be blended into gasoline without harming engines, Tom Doggett reports for Reuters.

Currently, ethanol makes up 10 percent of blended gasoline, but the industry is pushing for a higher share, arguing that federal law requires increasing percentages of renewables in the nation's energy mix. A petition from 53 ethanol manufacturers proposes raising the blend to 15 percent. In opposition, "Oil refiners want the government's biofuels mandates suspended, citing the limits on how much ethanol can be blended into gasoline," Philip Brasher writes for the The Des Moines Register. Charles Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, told Brasher, "We're using as much corn as this country can for fuel." Read more here.

Drevna was among witnesses at a Senate committee hearing. To read the prepared testimony or watch a Webcast of the hearing, click here.