It all revolves around the 2007 renewable fuel standard that requires increasing amounts of biofuels – and right now that means mostly corn-based ethanol – be blended into gasoline. The problem is, Americans are using less gasoline, and even though the EPA has cleared 15 percent ethanol gasoline (E15) for use with post-2001 cars, trucks and SUVs, most gasoline sold is still at the 10 percent ethanol level.

 

This is the “blend wall” that refiners howl about. Unwilling or unable to absorb more ethanol, they’ve had to buy up credits (referred to as RINs, for “renewable identification numbers”), sending the prices skyrocketing.

So the American Petroleum Institute last week sued the Environmental Protection agency over the standards, which is a pretty regular occurrence.