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RENEWABLE FUELS ASSN TO EPA'S ZELDIN: EPA SHOULD "PROMPTLY DENY" RFS WAIVER REQUESTS
Nov. 13, 2026
Source: Renewable Fuels Assn news release
Washington, DC - In a letter sent today to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, the Renewable Fuels Association urged the agency to "promptly deny" a recent request from the governors of Alabama and Louisiana for a general waiver of the 2027 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blending requirements.
RFA's letter underscores that the governors' request fails to meet any of the statutory conditions required for EPA to issue a general waiver of RFS requirements. Specifically, the governors fail to demonstrate that RFS implementation is causing "severe harm" to the economy of their states. Such a demonstration would be impossible, RFA argues, because the available evidence shows ethanol blending compelled by the RFS is reducing--not raising--consumer gas prices.
"The governors have not demonstrated that implementation of the RFS is causing, or will cause, severe economic harm to Louisiana or Alabama, much less that suspending renewable fuel requirements would meaningfully address the alleged harm," wrote RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. "Their request instead seeks to make America's renewable fuel producers and farmers bear the consequences of disruptions in global petroleum markets that the RFS did not create. Because it is facially insufficient, EPA should reject the governors' request without opening a docket for notice and comment."
RFA's letter points out that the governors themselves primarily attribute current high fuel prices to "global supply disruptions arising from conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine," not the RFS. "Simply stated, the requested waiver would not restore disrupted crude supplies, add domestic refining capacity, or insulate American families from volatility in international petroleum markets," according to RFA's letter. "Instead, it would diminish the demand signal President Trump and EPA provided for American-made renewable fuels and create further uncertainties for agricultural communities already facing difficult conditions."
At a time of high petroleum prices and supply uncertainty, the RFS and American-made ethanol are part of the solution, according to RFA. "Ethanol adds domestically produced volume to the gasoline pool, provides more affordable octane, and offers consumers a lower-cost option at the pump," Cooper wrote. "The answer to higher petroleum prices is more reliable, affordable American fuel--not less. We urge EPA to promptly deny the governors' request without opening a notice-and-comment proceeding, maintain the 2027 renewable fuel standards, and uphold the market certainty necessary to support American farmers, renewable fuel producers, and consumers."
Since 2008, EPA has received similar waiver requests from 22 state governors and more than a dozen general waiver requests from oil refiners. EPA denied or rejected all those requests.
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