A major petroleum trade group is suing the Environmental Protection Agency over biofuel-blending rules that it says are the most expensive regulations of President Donald Trump’s second term and put U.S. transportation fuel supplies at risk.
The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents both large and small oil refiners, has filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals challenging the final 2026-27 Renewable Fuel Standard volumes issued by EPA in March, AFPM said in a statement on Wednesday.
AFPM's full case against the so-called RFS Set 2 rule will be detailed in a coming brief, according to the lobbying group.
“The cost of complying with the RFS recently hit a new all-time high, exceeding 35 cents per gallon for the first time,” AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson said. “This is the inevitable consequence of EPA finalizing an unlawful, impracticable regulation, which AFPM is formally challenging on behalf of our members — the refineries that supply gasoline and diesel fuel to the United States market — and consumers of these fuels around the country.”
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The latest mandates for mixing renewable fuels into the U.S.’s annual gasoline and diesel supplies are the highest in the 21-year history of the RFS, a welcome boost for soybean and corn growers amid a multi-year slump in the farm economy. Soybean oil, a widely used ingredient in making biomass-based diesel, has surged nearly 25% in value over the last three months.
AFPM says the cost of compliance is expected to exceed $106 billion over the next two years, or 26-35 cents per gallon for every gallon of gasoline and diesel supplied to the U.S. market.
“EPA’s own regulatory impact analysis shows the RFS Set 2 rule will cost Americans more than $20 billion per year, while offering just $400 million in benefits. Refineries and American consumers substantially bear these costs,” AFPM said.
Renewable Identification Number credits, or RINs, which are used to track RFS compliance, soared to all-time highs last week for ethanol and green diesel.
“Expect lots of wailing and gnashing of teeth for small merchant refiners who now have a $15.20/barrel RVO,” independent oil analyst and OPIS co-founder Tom Kloza said in a social media post on Friday.
AFPM warned that the high compliance cost threatens the supply of U.S. fuel.
“Without a solvent RIN bank, the only way to comply with the RFS will be by reducing the amount of transportation fuel supplied to the U.S. market as only gasoline and diesel fuel sold domestically incurs an RFS obligation, while exported fuels do not,” the group said.
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