Upcoming EPA Announcement Could Determine Biofuel Plant Closures

By Stephanie Hoff

Some critical information is coming soon from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It could mean the difference between whether a biofuel plant stays open.

Paul Winters, director of public affairs with Clean Fuels Alliance America, says the renewable fuels industry is waiting for an answer from the EPA on renewable volume obligations or RVOs under the Renewable Fuel Standard. These mandate how much renewable fuel must be blended into gasoline and diesel.

Winters says the capacity that exists to produce renewable diesel and biodiesel is more than 7.5 billion gallons. Using that capacity at 70 percent would produce more than 5 billion gallons of fuel. The industry has proposed that the RVO allows for 5.2 billion in 2026, scaling up to 5.7 billion in 2027.

Winters references the Chevron Renewable Energy Group plant closure, announced in March 2024. Chevron blamed the EPA for the decision after the last administration set its renewable fuel standards “very low.” Winters says this is also an example of ramifications for a delayed decision.

The deadline for EPA’s RVO announcement was November 2024. Winters says the deadline — 14 months ahead of a compliance year — exists for a reason.

“One, farmers have already made their planting decisions for next year — the crops are in the ground,” he says. “Two, there’s a lot of market uncertainty because of trade conditions… and farmers are looking for these renewable fuel volumes in order to set the market for next year, and to tell them how much to produce, how much fuel is going to be used in the United States.”