RFA: Proposed RVOs Provide ‘Crucial Growth Opportunities’ Public Comment DEADLINE TBD

June 13, 2025

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(Renewable Fuels Association) The Renewable Fuels Association today welcomed the release of proposed renewable volume obligations (RVOs) for 2026 and 2027, calling the Environmental Protection Agency’s draft rule a “very positive signal” for America’s ethanol industry and farmers. By prioritizing domestically produced renewable fuels over imports, RFA said the EPA proposal makes good on President Trump’s commitment to put America first when it comes to energy and agriculture.

“Today’s proposal is an important step toward achieving President Trump’s vision of lower gas prices, a stronger agriculture industry, and American energy dominance,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “The volumes proposed today provide crucial growth opportunities for U.S. ethanol producers and farmers, while boosting the supply of lower-cost, American-made energy. We thank Administrator Lee Zeldin and his team at EPA for listening to stakeholders from agriculture and the entire fuels industry as this proposal was being crafted.”

EPA proposed a total RVO of 24.02 billion gallons (bg) for 2026, including 15 bg for conventional renewable fuels like corn ethanol and 9.02 bg for advanced biofuels, including 5.61 bg of biomass-based diesel and 1.3 bg of cellulosic biofuel. For 2027, the total proposed RVO is 24.46 bg, of which 15 bg is conventional renewable fuel and 9.46 is advanced biofuel. Notably, EPA is proposing lower RIN values for imported fuels to ensure that U.S.-produced renewable fuels are prioritized under the RFS.

“This proposal sends a very positive and powerful signal to U.S. renewable fuel producers and farmers. It represents an excellent starting point for the 2026 and 2027 RVO discussion,” Cooper said. “We look forward to providing more feedback to EPA on the proposed volumes during the public comment period, and we’ll continue to underscore the vital importance of a strong RFS to America’s rural communities.”

Cooper also noted that while today’s proposed rule does not specifically address 169 pending small refinery exemption (SRE) petitions, it includes a commitment from EPA to reallocate any SREs that may be granted in future actions.

“The entire supply chain is seeking certainty regarding EPA’s plans on SREs, and today’s proposal helps to clarify the agency’s approach moving forward,” Cooper said. “We agree that the agency has a legal obligation to reallocate any exempted blending volumes, consistent with the approach adopted by EPA near the end of President Trump’s first administration. However, EPA’s top priority for SREs should be maintaining a high standard for evaluating petitions and continuing to take a restrained and limited approach. The marketplace needs to be reassured that the RVOs published by EPA are real and will not be watered down or eroded by SREs.”

In this round of setting volumes for compliance year 2026 and beyond, the broader liquid fuels industry worked together for the first time, supporting robust volumes and a multi-year approach.

RFA was part of a joint letter in February to incoming EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, cosigned by the American Petroleum Institute and others. “As the EPA begins work on policies that promote American energy and renewable fuels, we encourage the EPA to consider robust future renewable fuel volumes for 2026 and beyond. We believe strong, steady volumes for conventional biofuel targets, biomass-based diesel, and advanced fuels would more accurately reflect the availability and ongoing investments in feedstocks and production capacity,” we wrote.

In April, 16 senators called on EPA to put forward strong renewable volume obligations for the 2026 compliance year and beyond. Also In April, the governors of four states—Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and South Dakota—wrote a joint letter to Zeldin supporting strong renewable volumes, noting that “For our multi-generational farm families, a strong RVO is more than policy – it’s a critical foundation for their future.”

In May, a bipartisan group of 28 House members called on President Trump to adopt “timely, robust” renewable volume obligations for 2026 and beyond, and “reject abuse” of EPA’s small refinery exemption authority. READ MORE

Related articles

Proposed Renewable Fuel Standards for 2026 and 2027 (Environmental Protection Agency)
Secretary Rollins Supports EPA’s Record Setting Biofuels Blending Requirements (U.S. Department of Agriculture)
Biofuel stocks rise on Trump admin’s plan to boost biofuel blending requirements (Investing.com)
Clean Fuels Welcomes EPA’s 2026-27 RFS Rule Proposal (Clean Fuels Alliance America)
Trump Plans Biofuel Quota Boost, Seeks to Crimp Imports (Bloomberg)
Ethanol Leaders: Upcoming RFS Critical -- Pending RFS Sparks Ethanol Groups' Angst Amid Small-Refinery Exemptions (DTN Progressive Farmer)
Biofuels in Flux: What 3 Key Policy Decisions Will Shape the Future of the Industry? (The Scoop)

Excerpt from Environmental Protection Agency: Rule Summary

On June 13, 2025, EPA announces a proposed rule to establish required Renewable Fuel Standard volumes and percentage standards for 2026 and 2027, as well as to partially waive the 2025 cellulosic biofuel volume requirement and revise the associated percentage standard due to a shortfall in cellulosic biofuel production. The proposed volume requirements are listed below.

Proposed Volume Requirements (billion RINs)a	2025	2026	2027
Cellulosic biofuel	1.19	1.30	1.36
Biomass-based diesel	n/a	7.12	7.50
Advanced biofuel	n/a	9.02	9.46
Renewable fuel	n/a	24.02	24.46

a One RIN is equivalent to one ethanol-equivalent gallon of renewable fuel.

EPA is also proposing several regulatory changes to the RFS program, including reducing the number of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) generated for imported renewable fuel and renewable fuel produced from foreign feedstocks and removing renewable electricity as a qualifying renewable fuel under the RFS program (eRINs).

Additional regulatory changes in several areas to strengthen our implementation of the RFS program are also included in the proposed rule.

Public Hearing

EPA will hold a virtual public hearing on July 8, 2025, for the proposed rule. An additional session will be held on July 9, 2025, if necessary, to accommodate the number of testifiers that sign-up to testify. This hearing will be held virtually-only (i.e., there will be no in-person hearing).

In order to attend the virtual public hearing, all attendees (including those who will not be presenting verbal testimony) must register by sending an email at RFS-Hearing@epa.gov. A separate registration form must be submitted for each person attending the hearing. Please register no later than July 1, 2025.

In order to allow everyone to be heard, EPA is limiting verbal testimony to three minutes per person. Speakers will not be able to share graphics via the virtual public hearing. Speakers will be able to request an approximate speaking time as part of the registration process, with preferences considered on a first-come, first-served basis. READ MORE

Excerpt from Investing.com: Biofuel stocks gained on Friday after the Trump administration unveiled a proposal to raise the volume of biofuels that oil refiners must blend into the U.S. fuel supply over the next two years.

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The proposal also includes a marked increase in mandates for biomass-based diesel, a key segment of the biofuel market.

Following the news, shares of Green Plains (NASDAQ:GPRE) and FutureFuel posted gains, up over 4% and 2.5%, respectively. Grain-handling stocks also climbed, including Bunge (NYSE:BG), up 5.9% and Archer-Daniels-Midland, which has risen 3.8%

The increase in mandated volumes could translate into higher demand for ethanol, biodiesel, and other renewable fuels, benefitting producers and related supply chains. READ MORE

Excerpt from Clean Fuels Alliance America: Proposal exceeds industry’s expected BBD volumes but program changes will require careful evaluation -- Today, Clean Fuels Alliance America thanked EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin for releasing the overdue proposed rule to set 2026 and 2027 Renewable Fuel Standard volumes and taking action to get the program back on schedule. Clean Fuels along with trade associations representing farmers, feedstock providers, and fuel marketers unified in advocating a biomass-based diesel volume of no less than 5.25 billion gallons for 2026 and are pleased to see the robust step-change in proposed volumes and obligation percentages. Clean Fuels welcomes the opportunity to carefully evaluate the proposed program changes, which include setting biomass-based diesel volumes in RIN equivalence.

EPA’s proposal makes a much-needed step-change in biomass-based diesel volumes for both 2026 and 2027. At the same time, EPA proposes to change the RIN generation values of imported fuel and U.S. fuel made from imported feedstock. Clean Fuels looks forward to carefully evaluating this proposal and its potential impacts on the market.

(billion RINs)	BBD	Overall Advanced
2026	7.12	9.02
2027	7.5	9.46

Kurt Kovarik, Clean Fuels’ Vice President of Federal Affairs, stated, “Today’s RFS proposal is a welcome and timely signal to U.S. biodiesel, renewable diesel and SAF producers as well as America’s farmers and agricultural businesses. The industry has made major investments in domestic production capacity and feedstocks to meet America’s energy needs and provide consumers affordable, cleaner fuels. We anticipate this will have a tremendous beneficial impact for American farmers and agricultural communities and we look forward to working with President Trump and EPA Administrator Zeldin to finalize this rule and fully unleash U.S. clean fuel producers.

“Our industry supplied more than 5 billion gallons of biodiesel, renewable diesel and SAF to the U.S. market in 2024, and is poised to deliver more in 2026. The U.S. biomass-based diesel industry supports 107,400 jobs and generates $42.4 billion in economic activity. Continued market growth and stability through the RFS will enable more economic opportunities, create more jobs, and revitalize America’s agricultural sector.”

The rule does not include a specific estimate of gasoline and diesel gallons produced by small refineries that will be exempted from the program in 2026 and 2027 – though it proposes a range. Including an estimate in the RVO formula will ensure that the biomass-based diesel volumes set by EPA in this rule are not unintentionally reduced by future small refinery exemptions.

Kovarik concluded, “We appreciate Administrator Zeldin’s commitment to find effective solutions to the remaining backlog of small refinery exemptions. We look forward to working with him to ensure that those solutions do not erode the U.S. market for biomass-based diesel and harm American farmers and consumers.” READ MORE

Excerpt from Bloomberg: The plan unveiled by the Environmental Protection Agency on Friday would require refiners to mix a record 24.02 billion gallons of biofuels into conventional diesel and gasoline. That would be almost 8% higher than 2025, but short of what some oil companies and biofuel producers were seeking.

The effort marks a bid by President Donald Trump to revamp aspects of the Renewable Fuel Standard program created by Congress two decades ago to raise domestic demand and support rural communities. Beyond merely laying out annual quotas, the agency’s proposal advances changes meant to boost US biofuel production and deter imports.

...

It’s the first major milestone for renewable fuel policy under Trump this year, helping shed light on how the president will approach an issue that proved especially controversial during his first term in office, when he struggled to balance demands from then oft-warring oil refiners and ethanol producers.

The proposed quotas boosted ethanol and soybean interests. Green Plains Inc., one of the biggest US makers of corn-based ethanol, jumped as much as 13% to $5.27 in New York trading, reaching the highest level in four weeks.

Big soybean handlers also rose. Archer-Daniels-Midland Co. gained as much as 5.5% to $52.41, the highest level since early December, and Bunge Global SA climbed as much as 7.1% to $82.48, the biggest jump since mid-April. Rendering company Darling Ingredients Inc. jumped 10% to $36.37.

Soybean oil futures in Chicago climbed as much as 6.2%, the biggest increase since Jan. 10.

The administration is so far dodging one of the thorniest issues — whether to grant some small refineries’ bids to be exempted from past years’ quotas. The EPA proposal does not address the topic — nor how the agency might account for any waived volumes — according to officials who asked for anonymity because the measure is not yet public.

The plan would set a 2026 mandate for biomass-based diesel typically made from soybeans and used cooking oil that the EPA said would amount to 5.61 billion gallons, representing a 67% jump from the 3.35 billion gallons required this year. That’s in line with what a coalition of some oil companies and biofuel producers had sought, though changes in how compliance credits are awarded could affect the 2026 target.

Those interests had also pushed for a higher overall biofuel-blending quota of 25 billion gallons next year. Yet the proposed target would remain under that level the next two years, with the EPA proposing a 2027 quota of 24.46 billion gallons.

...

Some oil interests had warned the agency against similarly bullish targets, arguing that could outpace production, especially if foreign supplies are limited.

Discounted Credits

The EPA is proposing to slash the value of RINS by 50% for biofuels that are imported or made in the US using foreign feedstocks. Roughly 45% of biomass-based diesel and its ingredients came from other countries last year.

The administration cast the proposed shift as promoting domestic biofuel production and aiding American farmers, already on the front lines of Trump’s effort to rebalance trade flows with widespread tariffs. But it will come at the expense of renewable fuel producers with international footprints, potentially lowering the value of the materials they make outside the US.

...

Renewable fuel producers would also be compelled to keep additional records on their purchases or transfers in a bid to thwart the use of fraudulent cooking oil and foreign supplies wrongly labeled as domestic.

The EPA is moving to set biomass-based diesel quotas as RINs, not on a per-gallon basis, and it is seeking to close an opening for electricity to count as a renewable fuel under the program. That would foreclose generating credits from power made from sources such as woody biomass to charge electric vehicles.

Renewable Fuel Quotas	2025	2026	2027
Cellulosic biofuel	1.38	1.30	1.36
Biomass-based diesel	5.36	7.12	7.50
Advanced biofuel	7.33	9.02	9.46
Conventional renewable fuel	15	15	15
Total renewable fuel	22.33	24.02	24.46
Biomass-based diesel (in billions of projected gallons)	3.35	5.61	5.86

Source: Environmental Protection Agency. Note: Expressed in billions of renewable identification numbers, which individually track one ethanol-equivalent gallon of renewable fuel, except where noted for biomass-based diesel. READ MORE