°®¶¹´«Ã½

Donald Trump’s meeting with senators warring over the future of a program designed to boost biofuels ended without a breakthrough Feb. 27, prolonging a clash that could undermine the president’s political appeal in Pennsylvania and Iowa.

Despite pressure from biodiesel producers to require greater minimum production levels of biomass-based diesel, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has stuck to its proposed plan to maintain the 2018 level of 2.1 billion gallons for 2019.

President Donald Trump will confront the conflict between farm-state and oil-state Republicans over renewable fuel standards as he meets Dec. 7 with Texas Senator Ted Cruz, a leading critic of requirements for ethanol use, and other Republican lawmakers.

The state’s standard for the biodiesel blend will double to 20% at gas pumps next May, a decision that displeased trucking industry advocates.

Minnesota Department of Agriculture officials have rejected a request by the state’s trucking association to delay a plan to increase the mix of biofuel to 20% of all diesel sold in the state beginning May 1.

The EPA has proposed cutting back on the minimum required volume of renewable fuels produced in 2018 and putting the brakes on the minimum volume of biomass-based diesel produced in the United States in 2019.

Royal Dutch Shell, the oil company that spent more than $50 billion to buy natural-gas producer BG Group, is looking to expand demand for the fuel in transport to ensure its output is consumed.

President Trump intends to revamp the national biofuels program to ease regulations on oil refiners while providing new incentives for ethanol and biodiesel production, people familiar with the plan told Reuters on Feb. 28.

The Obama administration tried to strike a cautious compromise May 18 in setting quotas for a controversial renewable fuels program that pits Big Oil against Corn Belt interests.