Changes to how RIN credits are used may effect up to two billion gallons of biofuels

A back and forth over how many gallons of renewable fuels will get blended into the fuel supply may well be swinging towards refiners leaving row crop producers in the balance.

This week, EPA officials released a proposed rule with three options that could directly affect the ethanol and corn markets. The change will allow a certain number of RINs, certificates which track renewable fuels from creation to use, to be used for compliance with federal law in the 2026 and 2027 production years. 

Of the available RINs, the EPA is proposing a 100% transfer, a 50% transfer or a 0% transfer to those years. The change could affect up to two billion gallons of renewable fuels like cellulosic biofuel and biodiesel.

The Iowa Renewable Fuels Association believes those RINS should be allocated now and applied to production that took place between 2023 and 2025. 

The EPA has more RINs to give due to small refinery exemptions, or SREs, granted last month to various companies experiencing economic hardships for production that took place between 2016 and 2024. The EPA’s decision granted full or partial SRE’s to 140 companies that had been either held up or denied under the Trump and Biden Administrations.

For Market to Market, I’m David Miller.

contact: miller@iowapbs.org