The agricultural community is widely praising the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s decision to allow sales of the higher-ethanol E15 gas blend during the summer. The decision comes as consumer fuel prices have risen sharply since the start of the Iran war.
The current national average is $3.981 per gallon, while 2026 started with the average at $2.81. Western states are seeing the highest prices, with California sitting at $5.843 and Washington at $5.30.
“President Trump is unleashing American Energy Dominance, and today’s action will directly lower prices at the pump and gives a clear demand signal to our domestic biofuels producers,” U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said Wednesday in a statement.