The President of the Renewable Fuels Association, Bob Dinneen said on Tuesday that eventually, the U.S. government will allow higher levels of ethanol to be blended into gasoline.

I absolutely believe that when all the science is in, the efficacy of using greater than 10 percent blends will be validated, Dinneen said at an Energy Information Administration summer energy outlook conference today, according to Reuters.

Currently ethanol is allowed to make up 10 percent of gasoline, however producers of the biofuel asked the Environmental Protection Agency in March to increase the blend level for ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent. The federal agency may issue a response in few days, according to Dinnen.

Some industries are opposed to the increase in the blend. Such an example is the National Cattlemen's Beef Association which points out that raising the level to 15 percent would require an extra 1.6 billion bushels of corn or the equivalent to the entire amount of corn the cattle industry uses in a year, the NCBA said.

In 2008, the Renewable Fuel Standard required 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels such as ethanol to be blended into the nation's gasoline supply. During that year, the U.S. was the world's top producer of ethanol generating 9 billion gallons, or 52 percent of the world production. In 2007, the nation produced 6.5 billion gallons, according to the Renewable Fuels Association.

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