Last month more than 5,500 people from the U.S. and around the world signed the American Coalition for Ethanol’s online petition in support of increasing the use of ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent.

For Ethanol Today readers who signed the petition, thank you for taking the time to express your support for higher blends of ethanol, for encouraging your friends and co-workers to also make a stand in support of E15, and for joining with thousands of others in calling for the U.S. EPA to update a 30-year-old regulatory limit so that we can all have the choice to use more environmentally friendly, homegrown fuel.

The scientific evidence indicates that using up to 15 percent ethanol in vehicles is compatible with the requirements in the Clean Air Act to ensure catalyst durability in engines and to comply with tailpipe emissions. With the science in hand, ACE’s strategic priority became generating widespread national grassroots political support for the E15 waiver.

While our petition has been an enormous success, contacting the EPA during its public comment period is also necessary for E15 to become a reality. Personal, unique comments in favor of E15 will also be persuasive to the EPA. The public comment period was to end on May 21, but has now been extended through July 15.

To make contacting the EPA virtually effortless, we’ve set up a website where supporters can write their comments, or consult example talking points, and send them with just the click of a button directly to EPA. To do this, go to the Legislative Action Center on Ethanol.org, found at www.capwiz.com/ethanol.

Your participation in ACE’s grassroots campaign was and is critical because biofuel opponents have the money and resources to fight our effort. Big Oil companies are scrambling to come up with road blocks to prevent more ethanol in gasoline. Other critics of clean biofuels are launching PR attacks, an effort designed to distort ethanol’s record and to prevent EPA from approving E15. But thanks to your involvement in this grassroots campaign for consumer choice and American jobs, I believe we are winning this battle.

We have a lot going in our favor. The science supports our request for up to E15. More ethanol means the creation of green jobs. Moving beyond the blend wall will provide the essential market certainty to enable the successful commercialization of cellulosic biofuels. And the request does not require E15, but provides a choice.

Thanks for your grassroots support.