Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program: Reallocation of Additional 2025 Small Refinery Exemptions
Key claim: EPA is proposing to shift extra 2025 small-refinery biofuel exemptions onto 2026 and/or 2027 blending obligations, raising how much renewable fuel other refiners must use in those years and possibly delaying the 2026 compliance deadline.
Abstract
(Proposed Rule · Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is co-proposing two approaches to revising the existing 2026 and 2027 small refinery exemption (SRE) reallocation volumes under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program in response to a higher volume of 2025 SREs than previously projected when the Agency set the renewable fuel volumes and percentage standards on April 1, 2026. One approach would reallocate the additional 2025 SRE volume equally between the 2026 and 2027 SRE reallocation volumes, while the other approach would reallocate all the additional 2025 SRE volume to the 2027 SRE reallocation volume. Additionally, given the proposed revision to the 2026 standards, this proposed action may extend the existing 2026 compliance reporting deadline of March 31, 2027.
Why this matters
Small refinery exemptions determine how much of the national biofuel mandate shifts from exempted refiners onto everyone else, directly affecting corn ethanol and biodiesel demand, RIN credit prices, and ultimately fuel costs at the pump. Reallocating 2025 exemption volumes forward into 2026-2027 raises obligations for non-exempt refiners in those years while giving exempted small refiners immediate relief, a recurring flashpoint between the refining and biofuels industries.