President Donald Trump is instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to deny small refinery petitions in the Renewable Fuel Standard, potentially neutralizing a nagging campaign issue for Republicans, Reuters reports.

Biofuel groups are frustrated election-year politics could be getting in the way of time-sensitive Environmental Protection Agency action on renewable fuel policy that needs to be finalized by the end of the year, and fear voter accountability in farm country will be lost if the agency delays acting before the November election.

E15, gasoline blended with 15% ethanol, saw modest growth over the last year as President Donald Trump's order to lift the ban on year-round sales approaches its one-year anniversary at the end of this week.

Some ethanol plants are slowly coming back online as gasoline demand grows, but FDA guidelines continue to make it difficult for facilities to produce alcohol for hand sanitizer, industry leaders say.

Some ethanol plants who just spent thousands of dollars altering equipment to make hand sanitizer are fuming after the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) reversed its guidance that relaxed alcohol regulations for hand sanitizer production.

A deadline to appeal a ruling striking down waivers from the biofuel mandate came and went, and biofuel groups are cheering the fact that the Trump administration has not asked for a rehearing of the case.

As fuel prices begin to drop nationwide, ethanol and biodiesel plants are making hard decisions as to whether to shut down or idle production.

A bipartisan pair of senators have introduced legislation seeking to adjust royalty rates for oil and gas leases on public lands.

Sales of a 15% ethanol blend were boosted by last year’s lifting of summertime sales restrictions.

EPA is not expected to meet the statutory Nov. 30 deadline this year, and supplemental rulemaking to address gallons waived through Small Refinery Exemptions is said to be the holdup.