Last week the governors from eight different Midwest states had sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency formally requesting to have E-15 ethanol blend gasoline be offered all year round.  Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds says the process began more than a year ago when the states had asked the E-P-A as to the procedure and documents that would be needed to make the formal request.

Reynolds says Kansas had sent a similar letter to the E-P-A but had done so on their own.  The Iowa governor says she is optimistic the E-P-A will grant the request of allowing the ethanol fuel to be used all year round, in the listed Midwest states.  She says the states had to prove the environmental benefits of E-15.

Reynolds says the request to allow E-15 ethanol to be used year round is a bi-partisan issue, with each of the states realizing the potential of the higher blended ethanol fuel,

The participating states in the E-15 coalition include: Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Illinois.