The Renewable Fuels Association this week filed comments with the California Air Resources Board (CARB) urging the state to allow the sale of lower-cost, lower-carbon E15 fuel blend, containing 15 percent ethanol, as part of its efforts to enhance the state’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard.

“E15 is a critical near-term strategy for decarbonizing liquid fuels, which will continue to dominate transportation in California for years, if not decades, to come,” wrote RFA Chief Economist Scott Richman in comments to the California Air Resources Board (CARB). “From a consumer perspective, E15 offers a unique opportunity to lower the cost of gasoline while cutting emissions of greenhouse gases and criteria pollutants.”

Richman cited a recent study indicating that E15 could shave 20 cents off the cost of a gallon of gasoline in California, which has the nation’s highest average fuel prices. This would equate to total statewide annual savings of $2.7 billion.

RFA also pushed back in its comments on expanded feedstock tracking requirements as both unnecessary and overly burdensome.

At the Farm Progress Show in Iowa this week, RFA Senior VP for Industry Relations & Market Development Robert White said even if CARB does decide to move forward with E15 at some point, it will still take years before California drivers could benefit from the advantages of E15. “California is the last holdout, the last state where you can’t sell E15 and ironically, given their low carbon fuel standard and our low carbon fuel that makes E15, we could sell it for anywhere from 20 to 25 cents a gallon less today in a state where fuel prices are well over $5 a gallon,” said White. “We recently had some discussions with the California Air Resources Board that has to approve E15 and unfortunately we couldn’t come to an agreement on many things. And so it it will at least be another handful of years before E15 is approved because we haven’t even started the rule making process.”