Trump Hints at Iowa Trip to Announce 'Something Very Important'

by Donnelle Eller (Des Moines Register) President Donald Trump on Monday hinted at a possible upcoming trip to Iowa to announce "something very important" while touting a new U.S. trade deal with Canada and Mexico.

The comments came as Trump thanked Sen. Joni Ernst during a Rose Garden news conference announcing the $1.2 trillion deal — called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA.

Politico reported last week that Trump could visit Council Bluffs on Oct. 9 to campaign for Gov. Kim Reynolds and Rep. David Young, both Republicans, ahead of the November midterm election and announce year-round access to gasoline with 15 percent ethanol, called E15. READ MORE includes VIDEO

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: A bipartisan group of 20 senators asked President Donald Trump not to order EPA to expand sales of ethanol by allowing year-round sales of 15 percent ethanol fuel. In a letter sent Thursday, the group urged "a collaborative and transparent process with robust engagement on any RFS reform process." Trump is expected to travel to Iowa next week to make some sort of E15 announcement, though whether he will use the occasion to order EPA to allow year-round E15 sales remains up in the air. READ MORE

Excerpts from Bloomberg: Top administration officials are set to meet Friday to decide on the E15 move, amid escalating pressure from oil industry leaders and congressional allies hoping to dissuade Trump from taking the action. They have stoked political concerns, arguing Trump’s move to court Midwest voters would come at the expense of refining interests and the Rust Belt.

The move could calm corn and soybean farmers fretting about low commodity prices and Chinese tariffs on crop shipments. It also could help two Iowa Republicans locked in competitive races to keep their seats: Governor Kim Reynolds and Representative David Young. Both have pressed Trump on E15.

The shift would effectively waive E15 from federal vapor-pressure requirements that block its sale from June 1 to Sept. 15 in areas where smog is a problem. At the same time, the Trump administration would pursue reforms in an opaque $2.5 billion market in biofuel compliance credits that are used by refiners to satisfy U.S. blending quotas.

Among the reforms being considered: position limits capping the number of so-called renewable identification numbers that can be held by traders, a shift that could push some of them out of the market.

Both year-round E15 sales and market reforms would require formal rulemaking by the Environmental Protection Agency, which could take another six months or more. Even then, there could be years of additional uncertainty, as foes in the oil industry sue over the E15 shift, which threatens to chip away at their share of America’s 143 billion gallon gasoline market.

The issue boils down to a contest between ethanol and petroleum over market share, said Scott Irwin, an agricultural economist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

It’s a “barroom brawl fight” between two of Trump’s key constituencies, Irwin said in an interview. Agricultural interests want more demand, he said, and petroleum proponents have to cut E15 off at the pass to prevent further market share erosion. READ MORE

Administration officials also are seeking to ensure any announcement gets an enthusiastic response from biofuel producers, Midwestern politicians and corn farmers who have long clamored for the change, the people said. White House officials are seeking assurances that biofuel advocates won’t use the occasion to seek other policy changes.