Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack today urged petroleum companies to increase adoption of 15% ethanol blended gasoline (E15) to help decrease reliance on foreign oil.

“The availability of E15 will increase America’s energy security and spur additional job creation,” Vilsack said. “The Obama Administration has an ‘all-of-the-above’ to promoting domestic energy security, and increasing the percentage of ethanol to be blended with gasoline will help boost economic growth while lessening the nation’s dependence on foreign oil.”

Vilsack sent out comments in a news release today, shortly after the American Petroleum Institute held a press conference call charging that EPA approval of E15 “could result in serious safety and environmental problems for consumers” due to incompatible gasoline station equipment.

USDA notes that in order to enable widespread use of E15, the Obama Administration has set a goal to help fueling station owners install 10,000 blender pumps over the next 5 years. In addition, both through the Recovery Act and the 2008 Farm Bill, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and U.S. Department of Agriculture have provided grants, loans and loan guarantees to spur American ingenuity on the next generation of biofuels. Before it can be sold, manufacturers must first take additional measures to help ensure retail stations and other gasoline distributors understand and implement labeling rules and other E15-related requirements.