Trump Administration Weighs Major Expansion of Small-Refinery Biofuel Waivers

The White House is reviewing a plan to substantially enlarge the small-refinery exemption program that lets certain refineries avoid Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) blending obligations. Sources familiar with the matter say the proposal would double the exemption volume—from roughly 950 million renewable identification numbers (RINs) to as many as 1.8 billion—for the 2025 compliance year. A coalition of farm and biofuel groups, including the Renewable Fuels Association, Growth Energy and the National Farmers Union, has urged President Donald Trump to reject the expansion, warning that it would “decimate the demand signal” set by the EPA’s 2026-2027 renewable volume obligations.

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The RFS requires refiners and fuel importers to blend specified amounts of ethanol and biodiesel or purchase RINs to demonstrate compliance. Small-refinery exemptions permit qualifying facilities to forgo all or part of these obligations if they can prove disproportionate economic hardship. When granted, the exempted gallons are removed from the market unless later reallocated, reducing demand for corn-based ethanol and soybean-based biodiesel.

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• Current exemption level: ~950 million RINs (2025).

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• Proposed level: up to 1.8 billion RINs, roughly a 100 percent increase.

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• Iowa’s biodiesel industry reported an $89.5 million loss in 2025, with three plants closing.

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• Traders have already driven renewable fuel credit (RIN) prices sharply lower in anticipation of weaker demand.

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The White House deferred detailed questions to the EPA, which has not yet commented.

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• “President Trump rightly garnered much praise in March by finalizing the most robust RFS blending levels in history,” — Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, also weighed in

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• “You don't lower gas prices by taking American-made biofuel off the market, and these exemptions will crush demand for corn and soybeans while padding the pockets of refiners already making record profits. Farmers lose, consumers get nothing, and oil companies rake in the cash,” — S. Sen. Joni Ernst

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