Clean Fuels Sends Letter to EPA: Farmers Risk Losing $7.5 Billion if EPA Does Not Reallocate RFS Small Refinery Exemptions

(WASHINGTON, D.C. – Oct. 17) Today, Clean Fuels Alliance America shared with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin projections of the economic impact for U.S. soybean farmers and processors of EPA’s supplemental “SRE reallocation volume” proposal. EPA is co-proposing to either fully (100%) or partially (50%) account for 2023-25 small refinery exemptions granted this year by adding a supplemental volume to the 2026 and 2027 RVOs. The agency is also taking comment on other reallocation volumes, including 0%.

“U.S. soybean farmers and processors could lose between $3.2 billion and $7.5 billion in crop value over the next two years if EPA does not completely reallocate recently exempted RFS volumes,” Clean Fuels writes in the letter to Zeldin. “Facing retaliatory trade measures from China and growing global competition from countries like Argentina and Brazil, America’s farmers can not afford to lose the value that U.S. biomass-based diesel brings.”

Clean Fuels regularly partners with World Agricultural Economic and Environmental Services (WAEES) to provide EPA reliable, independent analysis of the RFS program’s impact on U.S. agricultural and biomass-based diesel markets. Our forthcoming comments on EPA’s Supplemental Notice will include a full report from WAEES on projected market impacts for 2026 and 2027.

WAEES’ forthcoming report indicates that if EPA adopts the 50% reallocation proposal rather than 100% reallocation, the impact over the 2026 – 2027 timeframe will include a $3.2 billion loss for soy farmers and processors:

• 490 million gallons in lost biomass-based diesel production;
• $1.4 billion in lost soybean farm revenue; and
• a $1.8 billion drop in the value of soybean products to soybean crushers.

If EPA fails to reallocate any of the exempted volumes, the impact over the 2026 – 2027 timeframe will be considerably worse – a $7.5 billion loss for soy farmers and processors:

• 1 billion gallons in lost biomass-based diesel production;
• $2.6 billion in lost soybean farm revenue; and
• a $4.9 billion drop in the value of soybean products to soybean crushers.

Clean Fuels continues to urge EPA to quickly finalize the robust volumes it proposed for 2026 and 2027 while ensuring they are not eroded by current or future small refinery exemptions. The volumes can provide near-term support to U.S. soybean farmers facing global trade disruptions.