Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds said Wednesday she will take President Donald Trump and his administration “at their word” after he verbally agreed to a fix for his decision to exempt 31 refineries from blending ethanol into gasoline.
But Reynolds said she has not talked to Trump since their meeting in Washington D.C. last week. She was asked if the president would announce an agreement in Iowa.
“I offered Iowa—if the agreement that we verbally agreed to—I said we would be more than happy to host you in the state for that, but again we want to see it in writing and make sure we’re all on the same page before we do that,” Reynolds said.
Reynolds said she talked with Vice President Mike Pence Tuesday night, but he did not provide any details about the ethanol agreement or the timing of it.
“He said as far as he knew things were still moving forward,” Reynolds said. “He didn’t have a lot of details but didn’t raise any concerns either.”
Farmers and ethanol producers are hoping for an agreement that will require some refineries to use more ethanol to make up for the waivers granted by the Environmental Protection Agency and approved by Trump.
Two ethanol plants in Iowa have halted production in recent weeks.
