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Market Chatter: White House Seeks Additional Small Refinery Exemptions

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The Trump administration is urging the Environmental Protection Agency to increase the number of small refinery exemptions beyond its projected 1 billion renewable identification numbers of credits, as part of an effort to ease pump prices, Reuters reported Wednesday, citing two administration officials.

The EPA told Reuters it is not being directed by the White House on which waiver requests to approve or deny, and that no decisions have been made yet. The EPA did not respond to a request for comment by.

Senator Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, criticized the prospect on social media X on Tuesday. "The last time EPA granted small refinery exemptions at the rumored scale (1.8Billion) the biofuel industry lost over $6 billion +renewable fuel credits collapsed by up to 78%. And gas prices actually went up 12%. Farmers lost; refiners won. Consumers got nothing," Grassley said.

Meanwhile, the American Soybean Association said Tuesday that the increased waivers would deal a major blow to domestic biofuel demand. Such a volume of Renewable Fuel Standard compliance exemptions would be almost double what the EPA had assumed when it published the final 2026-2027 Renewable Volume Obligation Rule, the group said in a statement.

ASA estimated the increased exemptions could eliminate about 500 million gallons of biomass-based diesel demand and cost US soybean farmers about $1 billion in lost revenue, putting oil refiner interests ahead of farmers, rural communities, and expanded domestic biofuel supplies.

(Market Chatter news is derived from conversations with market professionals globally. This information is believed to be from reliable sources but may include rumor and speculation. Accuracy is not guaranteed.)

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