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year as a way to decrease reliance on fossil fuels and lower greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming.
• The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a 16.5 billion-gallon production requirement for ethanol and other gasoline alternatives this year, up from 15.2 billion gallons last year. By 2022, the law calls for more than double that amount.
• Biofuel advocates and supporters in Congress say the law has helped create more than 400,000 jobs, revitalized rural economies and helped lower foreign oil imports by more than 30 percent while reducing emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
• But the oil industry, refiners and some environmental groups say the standard imposes an unnecessary economic burden on consumers. Using automotive fuel that comes from corn also has significant consequences for agriculture, putting upward pressure on food prices, critics say.
• "The ever increasing ethanol mandate has become unsustainable, causing a looming crisis for gasoline consumers," said the API's Greco. "We're at the point where refiners are being pressured to put unsafe levels of ethanol in gasoline, which could damage vehicles, harm consumers and wreak havoc on our economy."
• Along with the E15 court case, the API and refiners have swarmed Capitol Hill and the White House to try to have the current mandate waived or repealed.
• Charles Drevna, president of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents refineries, accused the EPA of putting politics ahead of science.
• An EPA official told Congress earlier this month that the agency does not require use of E15, but believes it is safe for cars built since 2001.
• "The government is not saying 'go ahead' " and put E15 in all cars, said Christopher Grundler, of the EPA's director of the office of transportation and air quality. "The government is saying this is legal fuel to sell if the market demands it and there are people who wish to sell it."
• Ethanol supporters say E15 is cheaper than conventional gasoline and offers similar mileage to E10, the version that is sold in most U.S. stations.
• Scott Zaremba, who owns a chain of gas stations in Kansas, scoffs at claims that E15 would damage older cars. "In the real world I've had zero problems" with engine breakdowns, said Zaremba, whose station in Lawrence, Kan., was the first in the nation to offer E15 last year.
• But Zaremba said he had to stop selling the fuel this spring after his gasoline supplier, Phillips 66, told him he could no longer sell the E15 fuel from his regular black fuel hoses. The company said the aim was to distinguish E15 from other gasoline with less ethanol, but Zaremba said the real goal was to discourage use of E15.

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