EPA Proposes Renewable Fuel Standard Volumes for 2026 and 2027

EPA issued proposed Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) annual blending mandates today which would require 24.02 billion Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) in 2026, and 24.46 billion RINs in 2027. These proposed levels are nearly 8 percent more than the 2025 level but are less than the volumes sought by some refiners and the ag community. Corn-based ethanol renewable fuel volumes would be set at 15 billion gallons for both 2026 and 2027. Also, the EPA would partially waive the 2025 mandate for cellulosic biofuel. Embedded in EPA’s proposal is setting the biomass-based diesel obligation at 5.61 billion gallons in 2026 and 5.86 billion gallons for 2027.

EPA’s proposal also advances other changes to the RFS program intended to increase US biofuels production and deter imports, including reducing the number of RINs generated for imported renewable fuel and renewable fuel produced from foreign feedstocks and removing renewable electricity as a qualifying renewable fuel under the RFS program (eRINs).

EMA supports the Agency’s repeal of the eRIN proposal which would have allowed automakers to generate eRINs based on the EVs they sell by establishing contracts with parties that produce electricity from qualifying biogas. EMA argued during the Biden Administration that the EPA lacked the authority to implement the proposed eRIN credit for renewable electricity because it is inconsistent with the statutory purpose of the RFS, which is to support the production of renewable fuels, not the production and sale of certain vehicle technologies that eRINS are designed to promote.

EMA has for many years called for lower annual corn ethanol blending volumes that would allow marketers to determine for themselves whether to sell E15 rather than be required to do so through a de facto mandate. EMA fully believes in renewable fuels and their importance in the liquid fuels market and plans to ask the Trump Administration to ensure that future federal grant funds be available for small business energy marketers to upgrade their underground storage tank system equipment to safely and legally sell E10 plus blends. “To point out the facts of infrastructure compatibility issues is not being anti-ethanol. To the contrary, we must ensure that ethanol continues to be sold in a safe and legal manner for it to have a promising future,” said EMA President Rob Underwood.

EPA’s proposal does not address Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs) from the volume quotas or how the Agency might handle any waived volumes which could impact overall volume requirements. EMA adopted an official policy of neutrality relating to SREs. However, EMA opposes any reallocation of displaced gasoline/diesel volumes lost to SREs. Reallocating displaced volumes that create more ethanol blended gasoline than the marketplace demands increases the cost of RINs and by extension retail prices. If RINs become too costly or insufficient in number to offset higher ethanol RVOs, obligated parties will have no choice but to force E15 on downstream consumers and into billions of dollars-worth of noncompatible gasoline storage and dispensing infrastructure that cannot handle it.

EPA will hold a virtual public hearing on July 8, 2025, for the proposed rule with comments due on August 8, 2025