Rep. Pompeo: Ethanol fuel blend OK, but keep government out of it

Giving Kansans the opportunity to fill up using gas with a 15 percent ethanol content is a good thing, but government backing for the fuel isn’t, Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) told The Hill on Wednesday.

The Renewable Fuels Association announced Wednesday that two Kansas gas stations will become the first in the nation to offer E15. That news came one day after Pompeo criticized government policies that support production of that biofuel.

Pompeo on Wednesday applauded the Kansas gas stations — one in Lawrence, the other in Ottawa — for their efforts.

“That there are soon to be two stations offering E15 in Kansas begins to increase choice for consumers and increase competition in the marketplace. This is great,” Pompeo said.

Pompeo continued that he would support biofuels production “all the way up to E85” provided “appropriate protections” for taxpayers exist.

The Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuels standard requires 36 billion gallons of domestic renewable fuel production by 2022. The RFS caps corn-based ethanol production at 15 billion gallons.

Pompeo offered some concerns about those rules at Tuesday’s hearing of the House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on Energy and Power.

“My concern is that we take a hard look at all taxpayer subsidies and mandates, like the RFS [renewable fuels standard], and make commonsense reforms to take the training wheels off this and every other energy industry,” he said.