Is ethanol safe for your car engine? Trump administration allows North -Americans buy cheaper gas with higher mixtures

U.S. consumers will still be able to buylarger mixture of ethanol e15 gasolineThis summer, the Environmental Protection Agency announced on Monday, saving them a little money on the bomb, but risking possible air damage and water.

The resignation of the EPA -issued emergency prevents retailers from most states from stopping selling E15 gasoline on May 1. While the resignation remains in effect only until May 20, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin said he plans to follow the resignations until September 15, the date on which the federal government would normally allow E15 sales in all new states.

Most gasoline sold in all the United States is mixed with 10% ethanol, but mixes of 15% are more and more common, especially in the Midwest, where most of the nation’s corn is grown. E15 gasoline generally costs at least 10 cents less a gallon than E10 gasoline, but the EPA had previously banned its sale during the summer due to the concern that its use during the summer driving season could increase smoke.

But the EPA has relaxed the restrictions on E15, granting a series of short -term resignations by 2022, 2023 and 2024 to allow its sale all summer. And last year, the EPAissued a ruleAllow sales throughout the year in eight state-west states: Iowa, usually the country’s highest producer of corn, as well as Illinois, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, Dakota of the South and Wisconsin.

Trump administration officials said Monday’s action will reduce consumer costs and give more options for the bomb while increasing the demand for corn. They also described it as reducing US confidence in imported energy.

“Great corn producers of our nation are essential to help the United States achieve energy independence, essential for national security,” the Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Roll said in a statement.

While the Ethanol industry and Iowa officials praised the action of the EPA, the Renewable Fuel Association, a commercial group for Ethanol producers, argued that Congress should approve the legislation that allows E15 sales throughout the year to the United States.

“Because the E15 economic and energy security benefits are fully, the market needs long -term certainty,” said President and CEO Geoff Coop.

The biofuels industry and politicians in both parties argue that ethanol helps farmers, reduces pump prices and reduces greenhouse gases because fuel burns cleaner than direct gasoline.

But ethanol consumes about 40% of the country’s corn cultivation and environmentalists argue that higher corn production involves greater use of fertilizers that are a main source of water pollution.

Zack Pistora, a Kansas Lobbist at the Sierra Club, said that ethanol plants also use large amounts of water and states like Kansas are concerned about the exhaustion of aquifers. He said he is “hypocritical” to portray ethanol as environmentally friendly and said that the Trump administration should promote renewable energy, electric vehicles, public transport and sustainable agriculture.

“We need to dramatically reduce our dependence on fossil fuel, but relying on corn -based ethanol does not put our country on the path it needs,” said a gun in an interview.

This story originally presented to Fortune.com

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