WASHINGTON, D.C. (DRG News) – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has approved allowing year round sales of 15 percent ethanol-blended fuel.

South Dakota Sen. John Thune says lifting the ban on the year-round sale of E15 is great news for corn producers in South Dakota and around the nation.

He says gas stations have a greater incentive to sell E15 now that they will no longer have to go through the costly process of reworking and relabeling E15 pumps at the start of the summer driving season, and then converting them back in the fall.

Thune says ethanol also diminishes the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

Thune says he will also continue to urge the EPA to stop its practice of granting small refiner exemptions to the Renewable Fuel Standard because they discourage demand for ethanol.