The White House has finished its review of an EPA plan to protect crop-based fuels from oversized small refinery exemptions, putting the proposal on track for release in October. National Oilseed Processors Association President and CEO Devin Mogler expects the agency to move fast: "We're expecting that they'll make that public with the proposed rule here in the month of October and finalize it before the end of the year, after a comment period," Mogler told Agri-Pulse Open Mic.

EPA said in late August it would grant significantly more small refinery exemptions, or SREs, from Renewable Fuel Standard blending requirements than it signaled earlier in the year. The decision pressured soybean oil prices and sent RFS biofuel credits plunging. Traders and growers read the exemptions as a direct hit to demand built into the 2026-27 mandates.

What does the EPA fix change?

The agency plans to reallocate 100% of the gap between projected and actual exempted volumes for 2025 SREs into this year's and next year's Renewable Volume Obligations. EPA committed to acting before the end of October. The mechanism is designed to prevent the exemptions from diluting the value of the blending mandates for biofuel producers and the farmers who feed them.

Mogler said the reallocation keeps the industry "whole" and will "make sure those volume numbers mean what they mean." That certainty matters for crushers planning soybean purchases and for basis in soy-heavy states.

The stakes are quantified. Without the reallocation, biomass-based diesel demand would fall by 500 million gallons, and soybean farmers would lose almost $1 billion in revenue, the American Soybean Association has warned.

Why refiners are pushing back

President Donald Trump last week ordered tax-exempt diesel allowed on U.S. highways to lower record-high fuel prices. Oil refiners want more. The Fueling American Jobs Coalition, representing independent refiners, urged Trump to reject EPA's reallocation proposal. The group argues the plan would raise gasoline and diesel production costs and push pump prices higher for consumers.

Biofuel and agriculture producers reject those claims outright.

The context is a biodiesel revival. After output declined under low blending targets issued during the Biden administration, the Trump administration in March set historically high RVOs. Biomass-based diesel production has rebounded sharply since. NOPA members have invested more than $7 billion over the past eight years in new facilities to process soybeans and, increasingly, other oilseeds to meet renewable diesel demand, according to Mogler.

What's next for 2028-2030 mandates?

EPA is set to begin work on the next RVO round, expected to cover 2028, 2029 and possibly 2030. Mogler said the administration wants durability: "We've heard some indications that the administration wants to make sure that this goes well into the next administration, so we're not in a similar situation that we were last year, where a new administration is coming in and there's a rule that's lapsing immediately."

Longer mandates would give processors a multi-year investment horizon rather than annual cliff-edge risk. That matters for capital planning at crush plants already operating on thin margins.

The bottom line

• EPA's proposed rule lands in October, with finalization targeted before year-end after a comment period.
• The rule reallocates 100% of any gap between projected and actual 2025 SRE volumes into 2026-27 RVOs.
• Refiners want Trump to block the plan; ASA warns of a $1 billion farmer revenue hit without it.
• The next RVO rulemaking may extend through 2030 to outlast a change in administrations.

Watch the Federal Register docket when the proposal posts — the comment period and refiner lobbying will shape whether the reallocation survives to final rule.