When President Trump visited Mankato, Minnesota yesterday he was welcomed by a full-page ad in the Mankato Free Press along with a banner on the front page of the local newspaper with the message “Mr. President, welcome to ethanol country. We need your support.”

The front-page banner and full-page ad were sponsored by the Renewable Fuels Association to remind the president that Minnesota, like much of the American Midwest critical to his reelection, is ethanol country. There are nine ethanol plants within a 50-mile radius of Mankato and 50 plants within 150 miles. As the ad points out, “more than one-quarter of the nation’s ethanol is produced within a two-hour drive of Mankato.” Those facilities support close to 100,000 jobs and represent more than a quarter of America’s ethanol production.

The ad urges President Trump to tell EPA to stop handing out waivers to big oil companies that exempt them from the requirements of the Renewable Fuel Standard.