Paul Winters of Clean Fuels Alliance America joined Feed & Grain Chat to discuss the impact of EPA’s delay in finalizing the 2026 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes, creating uncertainty for farmers, biofuel producers and soybean processors. By law, EPA must set RFS volumes 14 months before the compliance year begins, however, the key rule proposal is now expected to be announced in May 2025. Clean Fuels Alliance America has filed a lawsuit over EPA's failure to meet the deadline to set 2026 RFS volumes. Winters said timely EPA decisions are critical to supporting billions of dollars in industry investment and maintaining market confidence, and urged stakeholders to advocate for action by contacting Congress and EPA.
Transcript of interview with Paul Winters, director of public affairs and federal communications for Clean Fuels Alliance America:
Elise Schafer, editor, Feed & Grain: Hi, everyone, and welcome to Feed and Grain Chat. I'm your host, Elise Schaefer, editor of Feed and Grain. This edition of Feed and Grain Chat is brought you by WATT Global Media and FeedandGrain.com. FeedandGrain.com is your source for the latest news, product and equipment information for the grain handling and feed manufacturing industries.
Today, I'm joined by Paul Winters, director of public affairs and federal communications for Clean Fuels Alliance America. He's here to update us on the EPA's delays in finalizing the 2026 Renewable Fuels Standard volumes.
Hi, Paul. Thanks for joining me today.
Paul Winters, director of public affairs and federal communications, Clean Fuels Alliance America: I appreciate the invitation, Elise.
Schafer: Absolutely. Paul, first, can you tell us about Clean Fuels Alliance America's case against EPA and why it's so important for soybean growers and the broader biofuels industry?
Winters: Absolutely. So the Renewable Fuel Standard Program sets required volumes for using fuels like biodiesel, renewable diesel, and even sustainable aviation fuel in the US transportation system. So the rules are intended, designed to come out well ahead of the year to which they apply. And that's to give farmers the signal to plant the biofuel crops that will be needed. And it gives biofuel producers the signal to invest and to plan for crop purchases and as well as other investments to meet these standards.
It's very important that EPA pay attention to the deadlines and the statute requires EPA to give notice at least 14 months ahead of the year to which they have these volumes will apply. So for 2026, EPA under the law was required to establish the 2026 volumes by November 2024, and EPA still has not even proposed rules for 2026. So now we’re at the end of March, farmers are making their planting decisions already for 2026, or for the year and they're doing so in the dark. It’s really hampering growth and investment in biofuel production.
Schafer: Can you explain how delays in EPA's renewable fuel standard decisions impact the ag supply chain from crushers to feed millers to farmers?
Winters: Yes, absolutely. So, the soybean crush industry has invested billions of dollars, more than $6 billion dollars to increase domestic processing capacity and that’s in reaction to some of the trade conditions that have occurred over the past five to 10 years. And it's also to meet the rapid scale up of renewable diesel production that's been occurring over the past two years. So, EPA should be taking into account that investment, that production capacity, the availability of domestic feedstocks, and providing a signal to the marketplace that the renewable fuel volumes will support that investment and make room in the market for the fuels that result from all that investment.
Instead, they've been delaying the rules and that creates uncertainty for both farmers and for the soybean processors. It creates uncertainty for the biofuel producers. The volumes that EPA set in 2023 simply were out of step with all this investment and all the plans for production capacity that would that we knew were on board. It's really impacting the price that farmers receive for soy oil and for soy meal even today.
It’s important for EPA to meet the deadlines for the Renewable Fuels Standard rules to ensure the market that these investments and these plant and planting of soy is going to pay off for the industry.
Schafer: So how can stakeholders across the agriculture supply chain support efforts to hold EPA accountable?
Winters: Meeting with your members of Congress, your senators. There’s a time period in mid-April where legislators will be in their home districts for a period of two weeks. They'll be holding town hall meetings, you know engaging with them there and you know explaining the importance of the Renewable Fuels Standard and for these timely rules will help them come back to Washington and convince EPA to to get this program back on track.
Writing to EPA itself it would also be helpful. And you can visit cleanfuels.org — we have a tool on our website that is that is called Become an Advocate. There's a simple message right on our webpage there that you can fill out your information, put in your own comments, and send a message directly to EPA and telling the importance of timely rules and robust volumes for biodiesel and renewable diesel that support farm production and soy processing.
Schafer: Excellent. Now, looking ahead, what upcoming decisions should our viewers keep an eye out for in 2025 that could affect the biofuels landscape?
Winters: Well, the most important one will be when EPA proposes 2026 volumes. We hope that it will come sometime in May. And that would be a sufficient timeline to get the final rule in place by November of this year. We anticipate that it should also include volumes for 2027. If EPA proposes rules in May that are accurate and robust enough for biomass-based diesel, biodiesel, renewable diesel, it will send a positive signal to the marketplace.
If they continue to lowball our industry, then it's going to send a negative signal to the marketplace. So it's very important now, ahead of that rule proposal to reach out to EPA, to reach out to to Congress and make sure that they understand the importance of this issue.
Schafer: Well, we certainly will be looking forward to hopefully a May decision. Thank you so much for sharing your insights with us today, Paul.
Winters: Thank you, Elise.
Schafer: That's all for today's Feed and Grain Chat. If you'd like to see more videos like this, subscribe to our YouTube channel, sign up for the Industry Watch Daily eNewsletter, or go to FeedandGrain.com and search for videos. Thank you again for joining, and we hope to see you next time.