Santa Fe New Mexican

President’s intention to ease ethanol rules a boon to farmers

- By Matthew Daly

WASHINGTON — The Trump administra­tion is moving to allow yearround sales of gasoline with higher blends of ethanol, a boon for Iowa and other farm states that have pushed for greater sales of the corn-based fuel.

President Donald Trump was expected to announce he is lifting a federal ban on summer sales of high-ethanol blends during a trip to Iowa on Tuesday.

“It’s an amazing substance. You look at the Indy cars. They run 100 percent on ethanol,” Trump said at the White House before leaving for Iowa.

He said he wants more energy production and to help farmers and refiners. “I want more because I don’t like $74,” Trump said referring to the current price of a barrel of crude oil. “If I have to do more — whether it’s through ethanol or another means — that’s what I want. I want low prices.”

The long-expected announceme­nt is something of a reward to Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, who as Senate Judiciary Committee chairman led a contentiou­s but successful fight to confirm Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. The veteran Republican lawmaker is the Senate’s leading ethanol proponent and sharply criticized the Trump administra­tion’s proposed rollback in ethanol volumes earlier this year.

Grassley called the proposal “a very good victory for agricultur­e,” ethanol workers and the environmen­t. “Everything about this is good, good, good,” Grassley said Tuesday after he and Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, met with Trump at the White House.

A senior administra­tion official said Monday that the Environmen­tal Protection Agency will publish a rule to allow high-ethanol blends as part of a package of proposed changes to the ethanol mandate. The official spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of Trump’s announceme­nt.

The change would allow year-round sales of gasoline blends with up to 15 percent ethanol. Gasoline typically contains 10 percent ethanol.

The EPA currently bans the high ethanol blend, called E15, during the summer because of concerns that it contribute­s to smog on hot days, a claim ethanol industry advocates say is unfounded.

In May, Republican senators, including Grassley, announced a tentative agreement with the White House to allow year-round E15 sales, but the EPA did not propose a formal rule change.

The senior administra­tion official said the proposed rule intends to allow E15 sales next summer. Current regulation­s prevent retailers in much of the country from offering E15 from June 1 to Sept. 15.

Lifting the summer ban is expected to be coupled with new restrictio­ns on trading biofuel credits that underpin the federal Renewable Fuel Standard, commonly known as the ethanol mandate. The law sets out how much corn-based ethanol and other renewable fuels refiners must blend into gasoline each year.

The Renewable Fuel Standard was intended to address global warming, reduce dependence on foreign oil and bolster the rural economy by requiring a steady increase in renewable fuels over time. The mandate has not worked as intended, and production levels of renewable fuels, mostly ethanol, routinely fail to reach minimum thresholds set in law. The oil industry opposes year-round sales of E15, warning that high-ethanol gasoline can damage engines and fuel systems of older cars and motorcycle­s.

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