A bipartisan group of senators led by Senators Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) and Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) introduced the Home Front Energy Independence Act. This legislation would make the sale of E15 year-round permanent; create a tax credit for higher biofuel blends; streamline E15 labeling; provide funding for E15 infrastructure; extend the biodiesel tax credit for three more years; and ban imports of Russian petroleum products. (The bill would put the ban on the importing Russian oil and petroleum products issued under President Biden’s executive order (earlier post) into law.)

Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wis.), Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), and Deb Fischer (R-Neb.) also cosponsored the legislation.

The Home Front Energy Independence Act combines elements of several of the senators’ previous bills aimed at supporting and incentivizing the use of Iowa’s biofuel, including the Biofuel Infrastructure and Agricultural Product Market Expansion Act of 2021, the Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act, the Low Carbon Biofuel Credit Act, and the Biodiesel Tax Credit Extension Act of 2021.

It would also put into law full restrictions on U.S. purchases of Russian oil until the president determines Russia recognizes the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

The current excess ethanol capacity domestically is nearly the same as the amount of Russian gasoline the US had been importing: roughly 83 million barrels versus 87 million barrels.