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By Alexandra Hutzler
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President Donald Trump has directed the Environmental Protection Agency to lift a seasonal ban on gasoline containing up to 15 percent ethanol, or E15.
E15 is a high-performance form of fuel that contains an increased amount of ethanol, which translates to lower prices at the pump and less air pollution. A summer ban was placed on the gasoline to decrease the amount of smog.
Today, most filling stations contain 10 percent ethanol gasoline, which is permitted by the EPA for year-round use. E10 is also more commonly used because the more ethanol in the fuel, the more likely it is for car parts and other metals to be corroded.
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The move, which Trump and congressional Republicans want to help them at the polls this November, has been opposed by oil companies like the American Petroleum Institute because it will cut into the industry's market share of gasoline sales.
But lifting the ban will help conservatives in Midwest states that have been deeply affected by Trump's tariffs and trade policy over the past year with China, Canada and Mexico. Iowa, where Trump is scheduled to hold a rally on Tuesday night, is the country's top ethanol producer and the corn that is used to make it.
Republican lawmakers leaving the White House on Tuesday told reporters that Trump has already directed the EPA to ease its regulations on E15, according to a Bloomberg report.
Polls show that Trump's influence in the region, which helped him win the 2016 election, is dwindling. According to an NPR/Marist poll released last week, 40 percent of registered voters in the Midwest approved of Trump's performance in July but that number dwindled to 38 percent in September.
Trump's disapproval rating among voters in the region also jumped from 50 to 55 percent from July to September.
GOP candidates didn't fare much better. According to the same survey, only 38 percent of those polled said they would vote for a Republican in the upcoming primary elections. Meanwhile, 50 percent of those who participated said they would support a Democratic candidate.
Two conservative candidates in Iowa who are especially vulnerable this election cycle, as Democrats are fighting to regain control in the House and Senate, are David Young and Kim Reynolds.
Trump is campaigning in Iowa Tuesday night and previewed the rally with a tweet on Tuesday morning, in which he wrote that "the Farmers (and all) are very happy" with the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement trade deal.
Earlier on Tuesday, the president told members of the press that "we'll be taking a little ethanol tonight."
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