Updates with comments from trade groups, details throughout.
Oil and biofuel groups, at loggerheads years ago over the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), have united around a call for US regulators to set "robust" biofuel blend mandates for future years.
A diverse coalition of 11 trade associations — including the American Petroleum Institute, Clean Fuels Alliance America, farm groups, and fuel marketers — said in a Wednesday letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that the RFS is a way to "advance liquid fuels" and "ensure consumers have a choice of how they fuel their vehicles". They want EPA, which is behind schedule on setting volume mandates for 2026, to set multiyear standards that better reflect recent growth in feedstock availability and production capacity than past RFS regulations.
"We're trying to send a signal to the administration: hey, we're in more agreement than we used to be," American Petroleum Institute vice president of downstream policy Will Hupman told Argus. "We want to work constructively with you on this. We understand we're going to need all energy sources and supplies."
The letter reflects the increasingly aligning interests of groups that formerly split over biofuels. Many oil companies that opposed the RFS in its early years have since invested heavily in fuels like renewable diesel, making strong government biofuel mandates crucial for their businesses, too. And producers of petroleum and biofuel products alike fear that rising electric vehicle adoption, aided by policies during the administration of President Joe Biden, could curb liquid fuel demand.
It is unclear how durable any coalition of oil, biofuel, and farm groups will prove, especially for more divisive issues like RFS exemptions for small refineries. The oil industry is not united either, since small merchant refiners with less ability to blend biofuels have generally been more hostile to the RFS than larger integrated companies.
The American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which did not sign the letter, said that it looks forward "to engaging with EPA and other stakeholders to set realistic and achievable RFS standards anchored in the law".
Still, the letter reflects some attempt among the signatories to downplay disagreements that surfaced around past RFS rules, signaling to President Donald Trump's administration that it need not delay program updates. The groups say they support, for instance, "strong, steady volumes" of not just biomass-based diesel and advanced biofuels but conventional biofuels too. While refiners can meet conventional obligations by blending excess amounts of lower-carbon fuels from other program categories, oil interests have previously criticized EPA for setting conventional requirements above expected corn ethanol consumption.
The prior US administration set a plan for proposing new RFS volumes next month and finalizing them by the end of 2025, though it is unclear whether Trump officials plan to meet that timeline. Two biofuel groups have sued EPA over its delays setting new mandates, a process which in the past has resulted in the government and industry coming to a negotiated agreement around a new timeline.
Under the RFS program, EPA sets annual mandates for blending different types of biofuels into the conventional fuel supply. Refiners comply by blending biofuels themselves or buying credits from those who do.
