Mixed Reaction to Increased Small Refinery Exemptions and Reallocation
- Dave Price
- 5 hours ago
- 3 min read
Numerous agricultural organizations are sorting through the Environmental Protection Agency's confirmation that it will nearly double the number of exemptions for smaller oil refineries from Renewable Fuel Standards blending requirements. The EPA also pledged that it would take the entirety of the difference between the projected and the actual exempted volumes into the 2026 and 2027 Renewable Volume Obligations and reallocate that.
Those two parts gave the renewable energy sector much to discuss. The Renewables Fuels Association's response to the announcement illustrated the mixed reaction.
“...we continue to believe most of the SREs issued today are completely unjustified,” read part of the statement by Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper.
Exempting refineries from the blending requirements limits the potential renewable fuel supply in the nation's energy system which could reduce potential demand for corn.
RFA laid out the specifics of the EPA's exemptions:
“Of the 34 pending exemption petitions, EPA granted full exemptions to 18 and partial (50 percent) exemptions to 11. It also denied three petitions and determined two petitions to be ineligible. This represents a total of 1.76 billion exempted RINs, or renewable fuel blending credits.”
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However, the second part of the EPA announcement brought more optimism from RFA. “...we are somewhat encouraged that EPA is taking steps to minimize the damage through reallocation,” Cooper's statement also included.
Cooper continued, “The proposed plan laid out by EPA today creates a pathway for ensuring no net loss in renewable fuel demand, and it is crucially important that the agency moves quickly to faithfully implement this approach. At a time when oil refiners are reporting record-high profit margins, gasoline supplies are tightening, and consumers are paying record-high prices at the pump, the administration should focus on efforts to increase, not decrease, the domestic production and use of more affordable biofuels like ethanol.”
What Was the Reaction to the EPA's Decision?
Iowa's Republican congressional delegation demanded more from the Trump administration following the EPA announcement. U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA 3rd District) was among those vowing to hold the administration accountable to agricultural producers.
Nunn also faces re-election this November in a district that has been viewed as one of the most competitive in the country because of the relatively balanced number of registered Republicans, Democrats, and Independents who live in it.
“Iowa's farmers and biofuel producers built the most productive renewable fuel economy in the world, and I wasn't going to stand by while Washington let that demand vanish,” Nunn said in a statement. “I pushed the EPA to make sure the gallons exempted this year get reallocated instead of erased, because every gallon of ethanol and biodiesel starts as a bushel of Iowa corn or a row of Iowa soybeans, and every gallon we produce domestically is one American consumers don't have to pay a higher price for from a supplier overseas.”
Nunn continued, “Washington shouldn't give with one hand and take away with the other. If EPA grants refinery exemptions, those gallons need to be fully restored, and Congress needs to finish the job on permanent year-round E15. I'll keep pushing the administration and the Senate to deliver the certainty that Iowa producers deserve.”
The Republican-led Congress has yet to pass year-round sales of E15, the 15% ethanol-blended fuel, and is running out of time before it goes back on recess before the November election.
