President Joe Biden's latest gambit to combat high gas prices will save some drivers a few cents at the pump—two months from now. But consumers might not see much in the way of savings at all, since they'll be buying dirtier, less efficient fuel that will require more frequent fill-ups.

Biden on Tuesday said he will direct the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to issue an emergency waiver allowing so-called "E15" gasoline to be sold between June 1 and September 15, when it is usually prohibited due to concerns about how the fuel contributes to air pollution.

Most gasoline sold in the U.S. is blended with 10 percent ethanol, a type of alcohol made from corn, thanks to a mandate originally created during the George W. Bush administration. Higher blends—like "E15," which is 15 percent ethanol—are a bit cheaper, but they burn less cleanly and provide marginally less energy. Though originally pitched as an environmentally friendly alternative to supposedly dirtier fossil fuels, studies have shown that ethanol actually emits more greenhouse gases. Nevertheless, the federal government has spent years subsidizing the production of ethanol, in no small part because politically powerful agricultural lobbies are big fans of the stuff.

It also happens to be a bit cheaper than traditional gasoline, which is why the Biden administration is suddenly so keen on it. "E15 is about 10 cents a gallon cheaper," Biden said Tuesday as he announced the emergency environmental waiver while touring an ethanol production facility in Iowa. "And some gas stations offer an even bigger discount than that."

Yes, but that statement comes with several important caveats. As Biden admitted during his remarks, E15 fuel is only available "at a few thousand pumps today." The actual number is about 2,300 stations, most of them in the South and Midwest. Not to worry, though, as Biden also committed taxpayers to pay for $100 million in upgrades to biofuel infrastructure, according to NPR.

Even if you happen to have one of those E15 fueling stations on your street, Biden's emergency order won't affect anything until June 1. That's perhaps a tacit admission from the White House that prices are likely to remain high for months—and a telling illustration of how little power the president has to curb high prices and control inflation in the short term.

Tuesday's monthly consumer price index report showed that inflation has hit a 40-year high of 8.5 percent over the past 12 months. Inflation in fuel prices was a significant driver of overall price increases during March, and Biden dutifully blamed Russia's war in Ukraine for much of that. But the White House continues to ignore or downplay the role that its own policies—and, in fairness, the policies of the Trump administration—played in worsening inflation by overheating the economy, particularly the decision to throw more than $800 billion in "free" money at American households during the pandemic.

The only real "winner" in Biden's ethanol decision, Reuters points out, is "the U.S. corn lobby" since farmers will likely benefit from "expanding demand for corn-based ethanol" this summer.

"It's not going to solve all our problems," Biden said Tuesday of his emergency ethanol order. Indeed, it's not clear that it will solve any of them.