President Trump directed the Environmental Protection Agency on Tuesday to make gasoline with 15 percent ethanol, or E15, available during the summer months, which had previously not been allowed.
This story originally appeared in Trade Only Today.
Trump said he signed a memo telling the EPA to lift summertime fueling restrictions on E15, according to Bloomberg News.
Trump underscored the policy change at a rally in Iowa on Tuesday, the nation’s top producer of ethanol and the corn with which it’s made.
“Today we are unleashing the power of E15 to fuel our country all year long,” Trump told the crowd in Council Bluffs, according to Bloomberg. “Promises made, promises kept.”
The plan was designed to appease U.S. corn farmers who have been hurt by low corn prices as a result of the U.S.-China trade dispute and might lead to lower prices at the pump, according to Market Watch.
Tom Kloza, global head of energy analysis at the Oil Price Information Service, told Market Watch that the move will lead to problems with labeling, equipment and will create problems with engines in cars manufactured before the year 2000.
It also poses problems for boat engines.
“President Trump should abandon this irresponsible proposal and instead work with Congress on reforming the Renewable Fuel Standard to deliver changes that result in better outcomes for all Americans,” NMMA president Thom Dammrich said in a statement. “Otherwise, we will continue to be stuck with a system that only picks winners and losers.”
President Trump’s decision to proceed with year-round E15 sales “places bad policy on top of bad policy,” Dammrich said.