Agri-Pulse’s Kim Chipman reported that “farm and biofuel groups are pushing back on an effort by some big petroleum states to partly roll back federal biofuel-blending requirements, warning the Trump administration that such a move would harm ag markets and rural communities.”
“At issue are requests by governors of Louisiana and Alabama for the Environmental Protection Agency to partly waive the Renewable Fuel Standard blending levels for next year, citing high fuel prices,” Chipman reported. “… The 2027 biofuel rules would ‘severely harm’ the economies of Louisiana and Alabama, as well as the Southeast region, the governors said in a letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin.”
Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported that “biofuels and agriculture interest groups were quick to respond to the request on Tuesday, saying in a variety of statements to the press that the implementation of the RFS has nothing to do with higher pump prices.”
“‘Any suggestion that ethanol blending compelled by the RFS is somehow raising gas prices is abjectly absurd and demonstrably false,’ said Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association,” Neeley reported. “… The American Soybean Association warned against granting the waivers and said on Tuesday that doing so would ‘strike a major blow’ to domestic U.S. soybean markets and rural economies more broadly.”
Biofuel Groups Say Waivers Could Hurt Grain Demand
AgWeb’s Tyne Morgan reported that the Renewable Fuels Association’s Troy “Bredenkamp says the worst case is a granted waiver that sets off a chain reaction. Blending requirements would be suspended in those two states, and others would follow. ‘That would have an additive effect over time. Depending on how long that waiver request is granted, that could have a significant decrease in demand for ethanol and for biodiesel,’ says Bredenkamp.”
“The timing, he says, makes it worse. EPA finalized the highest renewable volume obligations in program history for 2026 and 2027, and he says the market is responding,” Morgan reported. “‘We’re beginning to see the effects of that, especially when you look at the biodiesel market, soy crush, biodiesel production is really starting to ramp up,’ Bredenkamp says. On the ethanol side, production is coming on ahead of year-round E15 and the 2026 and 2027 obligations, and he says a waiver would undercut that demand at a time ‘when things in rural ag country are not great.'”
But AgroLatam’s Marco Díaz Collins reported that “according to RFA, EPA has received nearly two dozen waiver petitions from governors and another 14 from refining interests since 2008. The association says previous requests were rejected because petitioners failed to demonstrate the severe economic harm required for an exemption. Bredenkamp maintains that current market conditions do not support claims of severe economic damage or insufficient renewable fuel supplies.”
What’s in the Governors’ Request?
Reuters’ Siddharth Cavale reported that “in a November 9 letter to EPA administrator Lee Zeldin, Alabama Governor Kay Ivey and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry said the Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires fuels sold in the US to contain a minimum volume of renewable fuels blended in them, causes severe economic harm by raising fuel prices.”
“The governors said White House actions including deferring the federal excise tax on dyed diesel, pressuring European nations to release 100 million barrels from reserves and rejecting an export ban, along with state-level measures, had helped ease price pressures but that more was needed,” Cavale reported. “Ivey and Landry said the program’s compliance costs result in higher fuel prices.”
Ethanol Producer Magazine’s Erin Krueger reported that “the waiver request applies only to 2027 RVOs, not 2026 RVOs. ‘Because the 2026 compliance year is nearly complete, the petitioning states seek relief only for 2027, where a waiver can provide meaningful, prospective relief without disturbing compliance obligations that obligated parties and renewable fuel producers have already planned around for 2026,’ the governors wrote. ‘We believe waiving the obligations will allow for the economic use of renewable fuel without burdening our citizens with the high prices this program imposes.'”
