President Trump announced Wednesday that the administration is reinstating the Midterm Evaluation of the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) and greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) standards for the automotive industry, which is good news for the ethanol industry.

“Today’s actions allow the opportunity for EPA to slow down, remove politics from the process, and take a more comprehensive approach to fuel economy standards,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Bob Dinneen. He charges that the previous administration only did “a cursory review to finalize a rule before the transition” and did not fully consider all comments.

Dinneen says EPA failed to consider fuels that will enable technologies to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gases. “High octane, low carbon fuels can play a significant role in helping to meet fuel economy targets in the future,” said Dinneen.

“Now that the review of MY 2022-2025 standards will return to the original schedule, we will also be able to make the case that EPA and NHTSA need to provide meaningful incentives for flexible fuel vehicles (FFVs) and engines designed to operate most efficiently on high-octane, high-ethanol blends,” said American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) executive vice president Brian Jennings. “Currently, the standards are biased in favor of electric vehicles and ignore the role that FFVs and engines optimized to run on blends in the range of E25-40 can play in meeting fuel economy and GHG reduction goals.”

President Trump announced the actions Wednesday during meetings with auto executives and workers in Ypsilanti, Michigan.