US environmental regulators will make biofuel producers cover for small oil refineries

US environmental regulators are proposing new rules for how much renewable fuel must be blended into gasoline and diesel. This means biofuel producers will have to make up for the exemptions given to small oil refineries, increasing their overall burden.

For years, small oil refineries could ask for exemptions from renewable fuel blending rules, which meant less demand for biofuels. Now, the US environmental regulators are making it clear that these exemptions will be factored into the overall targets. This shifts the cost of those exemptions directly onto biofuel producers and larger refineries, forcing them to blend more to meet the national goals.