WASHINGTON - The American Petroleum Institute (API) is "strongly considering" petitioning the Supreme Court to review an appeals court decision that preserved the EPA€™s decision to allow E15 fuel in the marketplace, The Hill reports.

According to API Group Downstream Director Bob Greco, API would need to file a petition by mid-April to have the Supreme Court consider the ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Colombia. The EPA and biofuels groups have maintained that E15 is safe for cars made in 2001 or later.

"Oil companies are desperate to prevent the use of higher blends of renewable fuels," said Tom Buis, chief executive with biofuels trade group Growth Energy. "They have erected every regulatory and legal roadblock imaginable to prevent our nation from reducing our dependence on oil."

NACS supports legislation that would provide fuel retailers with the opportunity to sell new fuels, such as E15, in a responsible and legal manner. In the previous Congress, NACS supported H.R. 4345, the Domestic Fuels Protection Act and a similar Senate version, S. 2264, the Domestic Fuels Act. The "fuel neutral" bills would ensure that equipment that meets the EPA€™s equipment compatibility guidelines satisfy all applicable compatibility requirements, protect retailers from misfueling liability and prevent retroactive liability if a fuel sold today is later declared defective.