A bipartisan group of nearly 20 senators have sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) urging approval of up to 15 percent ethanol blends in regular gasoline.

The letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson was signed by Senators John Thune (R-SD), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Tim Johnson (D-SD), Kent Conrad (D-ND), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Claire McCaskill (D-MO), Roland Burris (D-IL), Byron Dorgan (D-ND), Tom Harkin (D-IA), Ben Nelson (D-NE), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Al Franken (D-MN), Richard Lugar (R-IN), Kit Bond (R-MO), George Voinovich (R-OH), Evan Bayh (D-IN), Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Dick Durbin (D-IL).

The letter from the senators also advocated the approval of an interim blend between E10 and E15 “to meet the new RFS and keep our renewable fuels industry growing. Particularly as second generation biofuels are being developed and commercialized, it is important that we also support the steady expansion of markets for ethanol by moving to a higher percentage of ethanol blended gasoline in the near future.”