The ethanol industry and National Corn Growers Association are pleased with the EPA’s April 2 approval of E15 (gasoline with 15 percent ethanol) as a registered fuel.

"Our nation needs E15 to reduce our dependence on foreign oil - it will keep gas prices down at the pump and help to end the extreme fluctuations in gas prices caused by our reliance on fuel from unstable parts of the world," said Tom Buis, CEO of Growth Energy. "Today's announcement from EPA finally puts that goal within reach."

"This announcement strengthens the ethanol industry's efforts to innovate and continue to deliver domestically-produced and affordable alternatives to foreign oil," said Buis. "With ethanol selling an average of a dollar a gallon cheaper than gasoline and $4 a gallon gasoline on the horizon, we'd encourage all Americans to ask their local filling station how soon they will see more-affordable E15."

"American consumers may soon have some much deserved relief at the pump. Today's EPA decision clears yet another major hurdle in bringing E15 to the marketplace. States in the Midwest have begun to address their regulatory requirements and perhaps as early as summer we could see E15 at fuels stations in the Heartland of America. The future for consumers, ethanol producers and this country has just gotten a little brighter, a little stronger," said Bob Dinneen, President and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association.

An NCGA release stated the approval “is a good milestone of progress for the industry and a boon to the U.S. economy. … However, there are other steps that must be taken at the federal, state and local levels before it will be seen in gas stations.”

"We've been working for a long time to make E15 a real choice for drivers, and we're happy to see this step forward," said NCGA President Garry Niemeyer. "We hope that within a matter of months we can get this important blend into vehicles to help decrease our nation's reliance on foreign oil and help bring gas prices down.”  

Earlier, NCGA reported how the U.S. Energy Information Agency estimating the average retail cost of gasoline to be $3.79 per gallon in 2012 and $3.72 per gallon in 2013. In a recent report on ethanol and gas prices, the Renewable Fuels Association outlined some of the causes of the increased gas prices and noted that economists last year found that using ethanol reduced gasoline prices by an average of 89 cents per gallon in 2010, which means that the average American household spent $800 less on gasoline than would have otherwise been the case without ethanol.