Corn growers and ethanol producers have their fingers crossed as President Donald Trump goes to Iowa on Tuesday amid expectations that the EPA could announce a long-awaited decision to allow year-around use of E15.

A federal judge ruled that the EPA and Army Corps of Engineers improperly suspended the Obama-era “waters of the U.S. rule,” allowing it to take effect in 26 states where it has not been blocked by court order.

The effort to craft a new rule defining "waters of the U.S." will take another step forward today when EPA and the Army Corps of Engineers send a new proposed rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review.

If the “waters of the United States” rule became law, it would “freeze up” the use of farmland as landowners try to determine “whether every minor drainage ditch, dry arroyo, and nearby puddle is covered by the Clean Water Act,” farm groups said in an amicus brief filed in federal court in North Dakota.

Leaders of the Senate Agriculture Committee are rushing to finalize agreement on a bipartisan farm bill with an eye toward getting it out of the chamber this month to set the stage for negotiations with their House counterparts.

House Republican leaders pick up the pieces this week after another embarrassing defeat on a farm bill, which was weighed down yet again by controversial food stamp reforms before sinking because of an intra-party feud over immigration policy.

The “Waters of the U.S.” rule promulgated by the Obama administration would be repealed in one of two spending bills approved by the House Appropriations Committee Wednesday.

A draft fiscal 2019 spending bill for the Army Corps of Engineers would repeal the Obama-era waters of the United States rule, ensuring it can't take effect while the Trump administration finishes developing a replacement.