WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced on March 25, 2026, that it would temporarily allow widespread sales of E15, a fuel blend containing 15% ethanol. The agency's decision grants a summer waiver for the fuel, which has been prohibited during warm weather due to concerns that it could worsen smog.

"President Trump is unleashing American Energy Dominance, and today's action will directly lower prices at the pump and gives a clear demand signal to our domestic biofuels producers," U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said in a statement.

In recent years, the EPA has routinely granted a summer waiver allowing the sale of E15. Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have called for the summer waiver for E15 to become year-round and permanent to lower prices at the pump.

E15 is legal year-round in Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska, Missouri, Wisconsin, and most of South Dakota, according to the Renewable Fuels Association. E15 is also legal in cities that require reformulated gasoline designed to burn more cleanly, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

Kenneth Gillingham, a professor at the Yale School of the Environment, said that E15 is not available in all states because some areas lack the infrastructure or ethanol supply needed to increase its use. "There's more likely to be ozone issues in the summer and some people will die. It will lead to some earlier heart attacks and it will lead to some earlier respiratory issues that wouldn't have been the case otherwise," he said.

Jason Hill, a professor at the University of Minnesota, said that increasing corn use for ethanol reduces the amount of corn available for animal feed. He said that consumers could be trading lower costs at the pump for higher grocery store costs.

"I think it's difficult to see when the ledger's settled, how this is a benefit for U.S. consumers," Hill said. He said the announcement appears aimed at farmers affected by higher diesel and fertilizer prices resulting from the Iran war.