Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-SD) welcomed members of the American Coalition for Ethanol to his home state of South Dakota Thursday as he addressed some of the industry’s current concerns.
The biggest concern right now is the continued struggle to get nationwide E15 approval. “This is one of the more infuriating issues…I don’t understand why we don’t have E15 yet…Why are we still trapped in 2018 in the conversation with E15,” said Johnson. “I think we’re going to get it done this year…Right now I would assess our chances at better than 70 percent.”
The question is how and Johnson says they have several options. “The most likely train will be the year-end spending package,” he said. “Hopefully we can get it done before Christmas.”
Johnson is very optimistic about the potential for ethanol to make the sustainable aviation fuel market take off. “We need biofuels for the next 20 years even more than we needed it the last 20 years,” said Johnson. “We fight and scratch and claw over 16 billion gallons a year in this country, but the sustainable aviation market is 200 billion gallons a year…We just need a lot more investment in biofuels.”
Listen to Johnson’s remarks at the 38th ACE Conference in Sioux Falls.
2025 ACE conference - Rep. Dusty Johnson remarks (23:38)