Governors' Biofuels Coalition

Higher energy prices continue to squeeze Americans at the gas pump, lift their heating bills and drive up the price of airfare.

Since the war in Iran began in late February, constraining the global supply of oil, energy prices have soared. Overall, energy prices were up 5.2 percent in September from the month before, and 20.4 percent higher compared with a year ago, according to the Consumer Price Index Report.

Consumers have felt this surge most acutely at the gas station, where the price of gasoline was 34 percent higher than a year ago. According to the AAA motor club, the average price of a gallon of regular gas was $4.33 on Wednesday, slightly up from a month ago, and more than 40 percent higher than at this point last year.

In a move aimed at protecting demand for ethanol and biodiesel, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin used a trip to Iowa on Tuesday to announce a proposal to reallocate 770 million renewable fuel blending credits granted to small refiners by adding them to volume obligations for refiners either this year or next year.
The proposal, which dives into the weeds of the Renewable Fuels Standard, would essentially protect the equivalent of 770 million gallons of ethanol from being waived from refiners’ blending requirements.

Zeldin announced proposed revisions to the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) to ensure 100% of the blending volumes granted by EPA through 29 small refinery exemptions in August won’t reduce the overall renewable fuel blending requirements for the country’s petroleum refiner

The Renewable Fuels Association is running full-page newspaper ads across six competitive states as it tries to leverage voter concerns around affordability to push an industry priority, Jacob reports. The ads ran over the weekend in 14 major papers including the Des Moines Register, The Minnesota Star Tribune and The Kansas City Star. The trade group is urging voters to call on candidates to support the year-round sale of E15 fuel, which they say would help ease high gas prices.

EVs are giving oil-importing countries some breathing room during the Hormuz energy crisis. Between March and August, their EV fleets displaced an estimated $20 billion worth of crude oil, according to new analysis from energy think tank Ember. And while more countries are going electric, the US is losing ground. Fifteen countries, including India and Brazil, have overtaken it this year in the share of new vehicles sold that are fully electric.

Trump did not share details about the exploration plans in Greenland but said, “there are experts that are saying that the amount of easily ⁠available oil is far greater than that of almost any land, anywhere in the world.”

The United States, Denmark and Greenland last month signed an agreement, aimed at ending tensions after Trump’s repeated threats to take control of the strategically located and mineral-rich island.

The USDA’s October supply and demand report raised its forecast for 2026 corn yields by 2.7 bushels per acre, sending corn prices lower following the release. National Corn Growers Association President Matt Frostic says the price drop adds pressure to farmers already dealing with high production costs, including diesel fuel and fertilizer. Frostic is urging Congress to prioritize passage of year-round E15 legislation and a new farm bill when lawmakers return to Washington in November.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit will hear oral argument Oct. 13 in litigation pitting biogas producers against refiners regarding EPA’s partial waiver of renewable fuel standard (RFS) blending mandates for cellulosic fuel for 2024, with the suit also implicating separate litigation over 2025 RFS mandates.

The US Environmental Protection Agency proposed on Tuesday to make larger refiners blend more biofuels into their products over the next two years, a move that will likely appeal ‌to farm-state voters ahead of November’s congressional elections.

The proposal would help offset concerns about lost demand for ethanol producers and farmers after the EPA announced in August it would waive renewable fuel volume obligations for 29 small refineries that argued the requirements would cause economic hardship.

The administration’s approach underscores the difficult balancing act for Trump between the oil and agriculture industries, two important constituencies with competing demands on biofuel policy. The result is a compromise that gives refiners billions of dollars worth of breaks while softening the blow to producers of ethanol and biodiesel. Oil companies with larger refineries, however, are left with a heavier burden.

Electricity prices and other energy costs keep rising, but USDA has severely restricted one of the biggest tools farmers and small rural businesses have had to produce solar power on their farms to offset costs, according to a new lawsuit.

Farmers in Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin, along with solar energy groups, filed a lawsuit Monday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, suing USDA and department officials over changes to the Rural Energy for America Program (REAP) that plaintiffs argue were done to effectively block funding for nearly all on-farm solar projects.

The farm and renewable energy groups are represented by attorneys for Earthjustice and the Environmental Law & Policy Center.