2026-06-04T10:22:04.067Z / https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-senate-faces-tough-vote-nationwide-e15-gasoline-sales-expansion-2026-06-04/
华盛顿/纽约，6月4日（路透社） – 推动扩大高乙醇含量E15汽油全国销售的长期受阻提案支持者，正采取一条艰难策略争取让该法案在党派分歧严重的参议院获得通过，这是该政策送交唐纳德·特朗普总统签署前的最后一大障碍。
据行业代表采访透露，他们的计划是将这项条款附加到一项重大的、必须通过的法案中，同时确保法案包含足够多对炼油行业的让步，以阻止他们阻挠该提案。
“这是一个复杂、棘手且极难预测的流程。为获得某一群体支持而做出的任何调整，都有可能失去另一群体的支持，”一位要求匿名讨论私人谈判细节的行业高管说道。
这种策略凸显了该提案在参议院面临的巨大阻力：在这个能源政策与地区农业、炼油厂保护以及党内分歧紧密挂钩的议会中，成功的关键将在于多轮谈判，而非简单的赞成或反对投票。
美国众议院于5月以微弱优势通过了E15提案，暴露的地区和意识形态分歧很可能会左右参议院的辩论。支持该提案的是中西部共和党人和农业州的民主党人，他们迫切希望提高对玉米基乙醇的需求；而财政保守派、炼油业州议员和一些环保组织则出于成本、燃油标准和排放担忧反对该提案。
参议院面临60票门槛
这些分歧在参议院可能会更加严重，因为支持者必须获得60票才能推翻阻挠议事的门槛，这迫使他们组建更广泛、更脆弱的两党联盟，也扩大了谈判的范围。
“获得60%的投票是一项艰巨的任务。目前参议院中有很多反对者，”为炼油厂、燃料营销商和对冲基金客户提供咨询的Capstone LLC副总裁德鲁·门罗说道。
如果支持者无法争取到足够票数，或者对众议院法案文本做出任何修改，该法案都需要送回众议院重新审批，这有可能破坏迄今为止好不容易形成的脆弱联盟。
多层次策略
门罗表示，由于单独通过该提案缺乏明确多数支持，生物燃料倡导者正努力将E15条款附加到不可避免的大型立法中。
他们表示，《农业法案》被广泛视为最可行的立法载体，尽管该法案已经在营养援助和农业补贴等关键议题上面临严重的党派分歧。
代表生物燃料生产商的可再生燃料协会首席执行官杰夫·库珀表示，另一个潜在选择是拨款法案。
在幕后，支持者还在努力争取共和党参议员约翰·巴拉索和约翰·布兹曼的支持，这两人的支持被视为关键，但前提是要为那些反感生物燃料混合义务的州内炼油企业提供保护。
小型炼油厂豁免成焦点
消息人士告诉路透社，参议员们正在寻求确保，如果义务给小型炼油厂带来财务困难，它们可以继续豁免遵守国家生物燃料混合法律。
一些炼油业州的参议员反对当前E15提案中的一项条款，该条款将为日均炼油吞吐量75000桶或更少的炼油公司提供豁免，使其无需遵守美国生物燃料混合强制要求。他们认为，这个门槛将排除绝大多数行业企业，因为行业主体是拥有多家独立炼油厂的大型综合能源公司。
巴拉索和布兹曼的代表未回复置评请求。
据熟悉谈判情况的助手透露，E15提案的支持者还预计民主党会在其他政策议题上提出要求，这可能会将该努力转变为更广泛的政策讨价还价筹码。一些民主党人已经开始悄悄整理潜在的谈判诉求，他们意识到核心共和党 bloc 迫切希望推动乙醇政策的修改。
可再生燃料协会的库珀表示，来自农业州和炼油业州的参议员正在就调整小型炼油厂豁免条款的措辞进行谈判，以找到折中方案。
他说，正在考虑的选项包括调整75000桶/日的豁免资格门槛，以及重新考量是否应要求更大的炼油厂多混合燃料以弥补豁免的产量。
库珀表示，如果参议院无法在本届会议期间通过E15提案，支持者将尝试将其纳入2027年拨款法案等未来立法中。
“如果我们无法更早将其纳入某项法案，这将是后备方案，”库珀说道。“但我们当然希望在9月底之前完成此事。”
贾勒特·伦肖华盛顿、悉达多·卡瓦莱纽约报道；马修·刘易斯编辑
US Senate faces tough vote on nationwide E15 gasoline sales expansion
2026-06-04T10:22:04.067Z / https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-senate-faces-tough-vote-nationwide-e15-gasoline-sales-expansion-2026-06-04/
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, June 4 (Reuters) – Supporters of a long-stalled push to expand nationwide sales of higher-ethanol E15 gasoline are pursuing an uphill strategy to get the measure through a divided Senate, the last big hurdle before the policy lands on President Donald Trump’s desk for signing.
Their plan, according to interviews with industry representatives, is to attach the provision to a bigger, must-pass bill, while ensuring it includes enough concessions to the refining industry to keep them from blocking it.
“This is a complicated, unwieldy process that is very unpredictable. Any change needed to gain support from one group risks losing support from another,” said one industry executive, who requested anonymity to discuss private negotiations.
The approach underscores the long odds facing the proposal in a chamber where energy policy remains tightly linked to regional agriculture, refinery protections and intraparty divides, and where success is expected to hinge on layered negotiations rather than an up-or-down vote.
The House of Representatives narrowly passed the E15 measure in May, exposing regional and ideological divides likely to shape the Senate debate. Support came from Midwestern Republicans and farm-state Democrats who are keen to see more demand for corn-based ethanol, while fiscal conservatives, refinery-state lawmakers and some environmental groups opposed it over costs, fuel standards and emissions concerns.
SENATE’S 60-VOTE HURDLE LOOMS
Those divisions are likely to be even more consequential in the Senate, where supporters must assemble 60 votes to overcome a filibuster threshold, forcing a broader and more fragile bipartisan coalition and intensifying the scope of negotiations.
“Getting that 60% vote is a tall ask. There are a lot of Senate holdouts at the moment,” said Drew Monroe, vice president at Capstone LLC, which advises refineries, fuel marketers and hedge fund clients.
If supporters fail to secure the votes, or if they accept any changes to the House bill language, the legislation would need to return to the House for approval, potentially unraveling the delicate coalition that has gotten it this far.
MULTI-TIERED STRATEGY
With no clear majority for standalone passage, biofuel advocates are working to attach the E15 provision to larger, unavoidable legislation, according to Monroe.
The Farm Bill is widely viewed as the most viable legislative vehicle, they said, even though it already faces significant partisan disagreements over key aspects including nutrition assistance and farm subsidies.
Another potential option is the appropriations bill, according to Geoff Cooper, the chief executive of the Renewable Fuels Association, which represents biofuel producers.
Behind the scenes, supporters are also working to win over Republican senators including John Barrasso and John Boozman, whose support is viewed as pivotal but contingent on protections for in-state refining interests that dislike biofuel blending obligations.
SMALL REFINERY EXEMPTIONS IN FOCUS
The senators are seeking assurances that small refineries can continue to be exempted from the nation’s biofuels blending laws if those obligations impose financial hardship, the sources told Reuters.
Some senators from refining states oppose a provision in the current E15 proposal that would grant refining companies whose plants average 75,000 bpd of throughput or less certain exemptions from meeting U.S. biofuel blending mandates. They argue that this threshold would exclude the vast majority of the industry, which is made up of large integrated energy firms that own several individual refineries.
Representatives for Barrasso and Boozman did not respond to requests for comment.
Supporters of the E15 provision also anticipate Democratic demands on other policy issues that could turn the effort into a broader policy bargaining chip, according to aides familiar with the discussions. Some Democrats have begun quietly compiling potential negotiating demands, recognizing that a core bloc of Republicans is eager to secure the ethanol policy change.
Senators from both farm and refinery states are negotiating potential adjustments to the SRE language to find a middle ground, according to the RFA’s Cooper.
Options under consideration include adjusting the 75,000 barrel-per-day eligibility threshold for exemptions and revisiting the degree to which larger refiners should be required to blend more to make up for exempted volumes, he said.
Cooper said if efforts to get E15 passed through the Senate fail this session, supporters will try to squeeze it into future legislation like the 2027 appropriations bill.
“That would be the fallback if we’re not able to get this included in something sooner,” Cooper said. “But we certainly want to have this done before the end of September.”
Reporting by Jarrett Renshaw in Washington and Siddharth Cavale in New York; Editing by Matthew Lewis
