President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for EPA Administrator faced questions from members of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Thursday on a number of topics, including the Renewable Fuel Standard and year-round E15.

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-NE) received a commitment from Zeldin to provide more certainty to the biofuels industry by following the law as it relates to the timeline for Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) rule makings, and then asked for his help in finally getting year round access to E15 for all Americans.

“I know how important this issue is to you, and I know how important this is to President Trump,” said Zeldin. “I’ve heard it from Senator Ernst. Heard it from Senator Grassley, Senator Thune, Senator Fischer, Senator Hawley. So I understand how much of a priority this is for you. As far as establishing certainty, hopefully this is something that Congress is able to resolve and to the extent that you’re relying on the EPA to establish that certainty, I look forward to being able to do my part and I want to continue to work with you.”

Ricketts noted the importance of American innovation to reduce our impact on the environment and referred to the Renewable Fuels Association’s Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle that he saw in Lincoln in 2023. “I was seeing a demonstration by a hybrid vehicle that for a $600 kit had been equipped to burn 85% ethanol, and it was getting 38 miles to the gallon while reducing the amount of emissions,” said Ricketts. “So that’s the kind of innovation that can help us reduce our impact on the environment if we’re allowed as Americans to actually innovate.”

Sen Jerry Moran (R-KS) was interested in Zeldin’s support of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) for the biofuels industry. “I want to bring together the opportunity to bring the agricultural aspects of Kansas together with the aviation aspects and pursue the development of SAF sustainable aviation fuel,” said Moran. “I guess the question would be we need your help in pursuing opportunities to develop the technology in any regulations that would follow that.”

As a former Congressman from New York, Zeldin previously opposed the RFS and E15, so American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings says its important for him to be questioned on biofuels support. “We are grateful for Senators Pete Ricketts (R-NE), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Joni Ernst (R-IA), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Deb Fischer (R-NE), John Thune (R-SD) and others for raising these priorities and additional issues like sustainable aviation fuel during their discussions with Mr. Zeldin today and leading up to his nomination hearing. We appreciate his commitments to follow the law as it relates to timely and appropriate RVO rulemakings and doing his part to ensure year-round E15 nationwide, building on the momentum of E15 legislation initially included in the year-end funding package.”