The Governors’ Biofuels Coalition is asking President Trump to take action on removing toxic aromatics from gasoline.

In a letter to President Trump, coalition chair and vice chair Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem asked him to enforce a provision of the Clean Air Act that requires the reduction and elimination of toxic carcinogenic aromatics from gasoline.

In 1990, Congress passed the landmark Clean Air Act amendments and directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce the dangerous chemical additives in gasoline. Today, almost 30 years later, this vital element of the law has yet to be enforced in any meaningful way. Aromatics, the poisonous chemicals that oil refiners add to all gasoline, remain a significant component of the fuels we use every day.

The governors note that octane options in the 1990s were limited, and cost-effective aromatic substitutes did not exist, but today many options exist, including high-octane biofuels.

“President Trump should order EPA to obey Congress’s long-neglected directive to reduce the toxic compounds in gasoline. By replacing aromatics with cleaner alternatives, the nation will be on the right path to cleaner-burning, less costly fuel. Any other approach is the wrong policy for America,” the governors said.