U.S. EPA hopes to decide soon on ethanol waiver: administrator

Scott Pruitt, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, testifies to the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee oversight hearing on the Environmental Protection Agency on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2018. REUTERS/Joshua Roberts

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt said on Tuesday that his agency hopes to decide soon whether it has the legal authority to issue national waiver on selling of motor fuel containing 15 percent ethanol during summer months.

"The process internally to determine the legal authority continues, I'm hopeful that we will have a conclusion on that soon," Administrator Scott Pruitt told a Senate hearing. Ethanol producers in the U.S. hope to be allowed to sell the higher level ethanol, known as E15, across the country in summer months as stagnant demand for motor fuels limits the use of the renewable fuel made mostly from corn and other crops.

(Reporting by Timothy GardnerEditing by Chizu Nomiyama)