"WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is proposing to allow year-round sales of gasoline mixed with 15 percent ethanol, seeking to calm a dispute that has riled two politically important blocs — the oil industry and corn farmers.

Tuesday’s proposed rule change by the Environmental Protection Agency would fulfill a pledge that President Donald Trump made to U.S. corn farmers, for whom ethanol is an important driver of demand for their crops. Many environmentalists oppose any expansion of the ethanol industry, saying the increase in corn production has polluted waterways and destroyed habitat.

Federal law for more than a decade has mandated that oil refineries mix ethanol into their fuel. The Trump administration’s former EPA chief, Scott Pruitt, had angered lawmakers, growers and ethanol processors in Iowa and other key election states by granting a spate of exemptions sparing refineries from that mandate."

Ellen Knickmeyer reports for the Associated Press March 12, 2019. [2]