WASHINGTON — The nation’s ethanol producers are urging the Obama administration to raise the 10 percent limit on ethanol in motor fuel to 15 percent or more, a move they hope will create new demand at a time when many distilleries are idle.
The producers say higher ethanol blends would help create jobs and reduce petroleum imports. Moreover, without a change in the 10 percent limit, ethanol makers say it could be difficult to fulfill a congressional mandate for renewable fuel use and the makers of new forms of ethanol, which rely on raw materials other than corn, could be locked out of the fuel market.
“This is about jobs, energy security for America, improving the environment and meeting our legal responsibilities under the 2007 energy bill,” said retired Gen. Wesley Clark, co-chairman of a group of ethanol firms called Growth Energy.
