Biden to unveil homegrown biofuels to mitigate oil price hike

By Ovunc Kutlu

ANKARA (AA) - US President Joe Biden on Tuesday will unveil a new plan allowing homegrown biofuels to mitigate the adverse effect of rising oil prices due to Russia's war on Ukraine, according to the White House.

The Biden administration aims to encourage the development of homegrown biofuels to provide available options for affordable fuel in the short term and to build energy independence in the long term by reducing reliance on fossil fuels, according to the White House.

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to issue an emergency waiver that will allow gasoline that uses a 15% ethanol blend, known as E15 gasoline, to be sold this summer season, it said.

"An emergency waiver can help increase fuel supplies, give consumers more choice to get lower prices and provide savings to many families. At current prices, E15 can save a family 10 cents per gallon of gas on average, and many stores sell E15 at an even greater discount," it added.

The US Department of Agriculture will provide up to $700 million in funding through its new biofuel producer program.

Biofuels are fuels like ethanol and biomass-based diesel fuel that are made from biomass materials, and can be blended with petroleum fuels such as gasoline and diesel.

The move is the latest step in Biden's recent initiatives in order to reduce gasoline prices for US consumers, which he refers to as the "Putin Price Hike" and blames Russian President Vladimir Putin's war on Ukraine for the recent spike in crude oil prices.

Biden announced last month the US and its allies would release 240 million barrels of oil from their strategic petroleum reserves, with 180 million barrels coming from the US, in the next six months to close the gap between high demand and low supply in order to bring down crude prices.