By Ryan Hanrahan
Progressive Farmer’s Todd Neeley reported that “the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized 2026-2027 Renewable Fuel Standard volumes on Friday, setting biofuel volumes higher than proposed numbers released last year.”
“EPA set overall volumes to include reallocation of small-refinery exemptions at 26.81 billion gallons for 2026 and 27.02 billion gallons for 2027 — providing a 70% reallocation. Corn-based ethanol also maintains a 15-billion-gallon market in the final rule. The agency had been considering a range of SRE reallocations from zero to 100%, with biofuels and agriculture industries pushing for full reallocation,” Neeley reported. “‘This approach will balance a number of factors that come into play when considering volume requirements and the impacts of SREs, including protecting biofuel demand while maintaining a stable and functioning credit market,’ the EPA said in a news release on Friday.”
“Biomass-based diesel volumes for 2026 were set at 9.07 billion gallons and jump to 9.2 billion gallons in 2027. The advanced biofuels volumes were set at 11.1 billion gallons and 11.32 billion gallons for those years,” Neeley reported. “The new volumes represent a 60% increase over 2025 for both biodiesel and renewable diesel, according to EPA.”
“EPA also announced, starting in 2028, foreign fuels and feedstocks will receive half the RFS compliance value compared to American-made products, ‘providing American biofuel producers with time to prepare for the change while ensuring that American farmers benefit from the RFS program and American energy independence,’ the agency said,” Neeley reported.
Source : illinois.edu