OPEC oil embargo and the resulting energy crisis prompted President Richard Nixon to pass the first act to promote ethanol as a fuel, while the EPA ruled lead must be phased out of gas.

The Arab oil embargo of 1973 sent world oil prices skyrocketing, prompting President Nixon to issue the Solar Energy Research, Development, and Demonstration Act, which encouraged the conversion of plant matter into energy and/or fuel. A year later, the EPA issued a decree that lead be completely phased out of gasoline. Together, these events set the stage for the successful reintroduction of ethanol.