Trump pushes permanent year-round E15 at Sioux City rally as 45Z credit changes loom
President Trump told a Sioux City crowd he wants to make year-round E15 permanent, putting the summer sales fight back in front of a market that has been living on emergency waivers. Speaking at Sioux Gateway Airport, he tied it to Iowa's Senate race. "We also gave Iowa an emergency waiver to sell E15 all year round. And with Ashley in the Senate, we will make it year-round E15. We'll make it permanent. We'll get it done, right," he said.
For jobbers carrying E15, the practical read is simple. Permanent summer access would end the yearly scramble over the one-pound RVP waiver that governs whether you can sell the blend June through September. Right now that access rides on waivers that have to be reissued, which makes pump programs and supply contracts harder to plan around. The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association has been pushing this for years.
A rally line is not a rule, though. Nothing changes at the rack until Congress or EPA writes it down, and we have heard versions of this promise before.
The 45Z changes
Highwater Ethanol, a plant in Lamberton, Minnesota, is working with corn growers to lower the carbon intensity scores on their crop so the plant can capture more under the 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit. CEO Brian Kletscher said the company plans post-harvest meetings to walk farmers through the changes.
The money hinges on CI. Lower the carbon intensity of the feedstock corn and the credit per gallon of ethanol climbs, which is why a plant would spend time coaching its suppliers on farming practices rather than just buying bushels.
Kletscher said Highwater hopes to apply the changes retroactively to the 2026 production year, covering corn grown in 2025. If that holds, it could pull forward credit value plants were not sure they would see, which matters for anyone pricing ethanol gallons off these subsidized producers.
Santos bunkering
The Port of Santos in Brazil has started regular ethanol bunkering, fueling ships with ethanol on a routine basis. For US operators this is a demand signal worth tracking rather than a price mover today. Marine ethanol demand abroad competes for the same global supply, and if it scales it could tighten the balance that US blenders draw on.
What to watch
Whether the E15 promise turns into actual legislative text or an EPA action before next summer's driving season, or stays a campaign line. Watch for the final 45Z guidance on retroactive CI treatment, since Highwater is betting on applying 2025-grown corn to the 2026 credit year. And watch whether Santos bunkering volumes grow enough to pull on international ethanol supply.