Encourage Trump to support E15

To the editor:

It was exciting to watch the President visit Indiana last week.

But, with grain and livestock markets shrinking and foreign tariffs targeting our state’s agricultural sector, the president’s visit was an important opportunity to hear how this White House plans to turn things around in rural Indiana. 

Like many Hoosier farmers, I’m hopeful that the president will win the fight to open new markets overseas, but there is one easy step this administration should take right now that would help farmers from Indiana and across the Midwest. 

Due to an outdated Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulation, most gas stations can only sell E15 fuel for eight and a half months each year.

Fifteen-percent ethanol blends are cleaner burning, lower-cost and higher-octane than the standard 10-percent blends sold year-round, but E15 is pulled off the market each summer. That restriction cuts off farmers from a growing market for the crops that supply more than a dozen Indiana biorefineries.

President Trump has promised to fix this non-sensical technicality, but the EPA has delayed action for years. It’s time to support farmers here in Indiana by letting consumers save money year-round on lower-cost biofuel blends. 

It's the right move to make, and President Trump can make it happen. Indiana needs E15.

I hope you'll call Sen. Todd Young at (202) 224-5623 and encourage him to call on President Trump to allow E15 sales year round. 

Elaine Gillis

Dunkirk