At a Kansas grain terminal, a truckload of corn does not care which federal office wrote the rule that limits its next market. The state harvested 5.8 million acres of grain corn and produced 748.2 million bushels in 2024. Sen. Roger Marshall is taking that mountain of homegrown production to the fuel fight and asking why Washington is still narrowing the path from Kansas fields to American pumps.
Marshall and Nebraska Sen. Deb Fischer introduced the Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act. The bill would allow E15, gasoline blended with 15% ethanol, to be sold nationwide, year-round. Kansas Sen. Jerry Moran joined the bipartisan effort, along with Chuck Grassley, Amy Klobuchar, and Tammy Duckworth.
The fuel already has a rulebook. The Department of Energy’s E15 guidance describes gasoline containing between 10.5% and 15% ethanol and approves it for model-year 2001 and newer light-duty conventional vehicles. It excludes motorcycles, boats, lawn equipment, older conventional vehicles, and many heavy-duty engines. E15 exists under a federal rule. The question is why the government should keep a legal choke point on a fuel many vehicles can use.
The White House pushed back. President Trump’s January energy order declared a “national energy emergency” and directed the Environmental Protection Agency to consider emergency fuel waivers that could permit year-round E15 sales in response to projected gasoline shortfalls. On April 28, the EPA allowed nationwide year-round E15 sales during the summer driving season, saying the action was consistent with the president’s order.
That waiver exposed the old arrangement. The administration can open the lane for a season, but farmers and ethanol producers still have to wonder whether Washington will close it again. Marshall and Fischer are demanding a permanent rule instead of a temporary permission slip.
Kansas has a direct stake. The USDA’s Kansas crop overview records the acres and bushels, but the consequences show up in ethanol plants, local grain bids, truck routes, and rural payrolls. More domestic ethanol demand gives producers another market and puts American corn to work in American energy.
Marshall’s push also gives drivers more control. E15 would not fit every engine, and labels and compatibility rules still matter. But consumer choice means exactly what it says: let people use an approved option instead of letting a federal restriction decide for them.
The Senate measure has been introduced and awaits congressional action. The EPA waiver did not erase vehicle limits or guarantee a higher corn price, but it proved that year-round availability can move from a campaign promise to an operating policy when the administration chooses action.
Marshall is choosing action too. Kansas farmers have grown the crop, American workers can process it, and drivers deserve more than one Washington-approved answer at the pump. The senator is fighting to make sure the next market is open when the next harvest arrives.