RFA Connects with Farmers at Farm Progress Show

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RFA at the Farm Progress Show

The Renewable Fuels Association has been connecting with farmers at the 2026 Farm Progress Show this week in Boone, Iowa.

“This is one of our favorite events of the year because it really gives us a chance to put our finger on the pulse of what farmers are talking about,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We have some amazing conversations with farmers who come up and kind of tell us about what’s happening on their operations and the things that are keeping them up at night, answer a lot of their questions about what’s happening in the ethanol world and with policy and regulatory developments. But more than anything, it’s just a good way for us to make sure we’re connecting every year with farmers, who of course are tremendously important to what we do in the ethanol industry.”

Cooper says the farm economy is suffering right now, but ethanol continues to be a bright spot and farmers know it. “There was farming before ethanol and there’s been farming after ethanol and the two could not be more different,” said Cooper. “It has just been such a boon to these rural economies, these farming economies. It has helped to add value to commodities. It’s helped create jobs in these communities. It’s helped create new economic activity. in these communities across the country and farmers get that. They know that. They come up to our booth and tell us, thank you. Thank you guys for doing what you’re doing because ethanol has really saved the farm economy.”

To help the situation in farm country now, Cooper says we need the next new wave for ethanol. “And that next wave needs to be nationwide, year-round E15, continuing to grow our export demand, getting into new markets like maritime fuel and aviation, and just continuing to build and expand those markets,” he said. “Year-round E15 alone, if we were able to replace E10 nationwide, if every gallon of gasoline was E15, that’s another 6 billion gallons of ethanol demand…about 2.5 billion bushels of new corn demand.”

In this interview from Farm Progress Show, Cooper comments on EPA’s granting new small refinery waivers, California E15, record ethanol exports, and more.

Geoff Cooper, RFA President and CEO, comments on EPA small refinery exemptions, E15, and record ethanol exports
FPS26 Geoff Cooper, RFA 13:17

2026 Farm Progress Show photo album

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Hormel Institute Update on Ethanol’s Role in Reducing Cancer

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Gail Dennison speaks as Dr. Luke Hepner looks on at the ACE Conference

There is growing evidence that ethanol in gasoline can play a role in reducing the cancer risk of fuel additives.

At the recent American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) annual conference in Minneapolis, Gail Dennison and Dr. Luke Hepner of the University of Minnesota’s Hormel Institute outlined the latest research linking fossil-fuel BTEX compounds (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) to higher cancer risk and other disease, and the potential health advantage of replacing them with ethanol.

Dennison described how the project began after industry leaders asked whether ethanol could serve as a less carcinogenic alternative in fuels. Early work, she said, showed BTEX mixtures to be more hazardous than anticipated. Exposure has been tied not only to lung, breast and prostate cancers but also to generational breast-cancer risk after prenatal exposure and to neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer’s, through disruption of the gut microbiome. “We’re on the quest now of completing and taking the research to the next stages,” said Dennison. “We know you need published data. And so that is our number one goal.”

Hepner, a cancer researcher who joined the institute from Mayo Clinic, presented laboratory and animal data on lung cancer. In custom inhalation chambers built at the University of Minnesota, mice that breathed BTEX developed more and larger lung tumors in both carcinogen-induced and genetically driven models. A zebrafish assay further indicated that BTEX accelerates a key step in metastasis: cancer cells leaving the bloodstream. Parallel mouse metastasis studies are under way. “And we’re currently performing studies and optimizing a technique that we can deliver ethanol to the mice as a control to show that ethanol is likely not having these effects, whereas the BTEX is,” said Hepner.

The institute has co-funded the work and multiple papers are in preparation. Dennison noted growing interest from officials in California and Mexico City, where ethanol use remains low. A planned next phase will use mice carrying random mutations to identify which genes make individuals most susceptible to BTEX-driven lung cancer.

Learn more in their presentation at The ACE.

Gail Dennison, The Hormel Institute, Director of Development & External Relations
Luke Hoeppner, The Hormel Institute, University of Minnesota, Associate Professor
Hormel Institute Panel 22:13

2026 ACE Conference photo album

ACE, ACE Ethanol Conference, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Research

RFA Adds New Director of Global Policy and Regulatory Affairs

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Jeff Dwyer

The Renewable Fuels Association welcomes U.S. Department of Agriculture veteran Jeff Dwyer as Director of Global Policy and Regulatory Affairs in the Washington office.

“With his background in trade, ag policy and economics, Jeff will be a terrific addition to our association,” said RFA President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “He has demonstrated the expertise to hit the ground running, to advance our policy priorities and serve our members as we work to enhance the growth and competitiveness of the U.S. ethanol industry.”

“I’m thrilled to join RFA at a time when our industry has significant opportunities to grow both at home and around the world,” Dwyer said. “I look forward to bringing my experience in agricultural trade and economic policy to RFA and working with its members to expand global markets, develop new uses for renewable fuels and navigate an evolving carbon and environmental policy landscape.”

Dwyer spent eight years at USDA, most recently serving as Senior Advisor to the Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs. He also served USDA as an agricultural economist and international trade economist with the Foreign Agricultural Service. Prior to his service with USDA, Dwyer worked as an agribusiness consultant with Informa Economics, conducting economic, market, and trade policy analysis for agricultural commodity groups, agribusinesses, and trade associations. He holds a Master of Science in Agricultural, Environmental and Development Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University.

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RFA Preparing California Retailers for E15

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RFA’s Robert White at Farm Progress Show

The Renewable Fuels Association is ready to work on educating California fuel retailers again, now that the E15 Clean-Up Act has been passed by the state legislature, paving the way to finally allow sales of the lower-cost, lower-carbon transportation fuel.

RFA’s Robert White says the bill, which allows retailers to use existing vapor recovery equipment to dispense E15 if the manufacturer of that equipment submits a statement of compatibility to the relevant state agencies, passed unanimously out of both the Assembly (56–0) and the Senate (34–0). “It was just exciting news that for a second time in 14 months, an E15 bill in California had no negative votes, unanimous two times in a row,” White said during an interview at Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa this week. It was this same time last year that the state legislature passed a bill to legalize sales of E15 immediately upon the governor’s signature, which has been held up by the equipment issue.

White says the fix will not go into effect until January 1, but that is just around the corner. “So on the heels of that next week is the CFCA summit where we’re putting on an E15 workshop,” said White. “So we’ll be gearing folks up for the coming year, teaching them again about the economics and why in a state that’s so short of liquid fuel, so high of fuel prices, how E15 can help immediately.”

Learn more in this interview.

Robert White, RFA Senior VP, Industry Relations & Market Development, comments on California E15
FPS26 Robert White, RFA 6:58

2026 Farm Progress Show photo album

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Sec. Rollins Visits Farm Progress Show

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Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins visited the Farm Progress Show in Boone, Iowa Tuesday to announce a new data collection plan for USDA and comment on recent actions taken by the administration on biofuels.

Rollins says USDA’s new Data Modernization Plan is designed to put Farmers First, reduce unnecessary burdens on producers, and improve the timeliness, accuracy, and usefulness of the agricultural data that informs decisions across American agriculture. “These changes will reduce the duplicative requests that you receive over and over and over again. It will limit the amount of time that our producers spend reporting information and get you back to what you do best, which is growing food and fuel for our country,” said Rollins.

For biofuel producers, Rollins touted the administration’s action to preserve the highest renewable volume obligations or RVOs in the history of the Renewable Fuel Standard by reallocating all volumes being exempted under the large number of small refinery waivers granted by EPA this week. “We’ve also issued summer waivers for E15 and continue to support E15 year around for our congressional leaders to finally get that done,” said Rollins.

Listen to Rollins’ comments here:
FPS26 - Rollins remarks 39:46

2026 Farm Progress Show photo album

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California Passes E15 Clean-Up Legislation

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California’s E15 Clean-Up Act (SB 795) cleared the California Legislature unanimously late last night and is headed to Governor Newsom’s desk.

The bill removes the vapor-recovery-equipment barrier that has prevented California retailers from actually dispensing E15, but additional regulatory action by CARB and the State Fire Marshal still remain before motorists can finally be free to buy E15.

“The passage of this bill means Californians will finally be able to enjoy savings at the pump with a lower-cost fuel blend that’s also better for the environment,” said Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper. “We thank principal authors Sens. Bob Archuletta and Suzette Martinez Valladares, and Assemblymember David Alvarez, as well as the entire bipartisan California Problem Solvers Caucus for their leadership and commitment to reducing gas prices for California families. We are also grateful to Gov. Gavin Newsom for his ongoing strong support of E15.”

RFA will continue its work to educate California fuel retailers and others about implementing E15 sales, with a set of workshops coming to San Diego Sept. 9 in conjunction with the CFCA Summit.

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) senior vice president and chief marketing officer Ron Lamberty also praised the news out of California. “This a major step toward providing retailers a clear path to begin offering less expensive E15 fuel to California drivers using their existing fuel storage and dispensing equipment. We had been critical of state regulators for delaying making E15 available at the pump, and they pointed out rules and regulations preventing them doing so despite the earlier bill’s urgency designation. This legislation corrects that oversight.”

ACE will be also be at the CFCA Summit next week. “ACE has participated in this show since 2001 when retailers were preparing to add E10 for the first time, and we look forward to helping California retailers now move toward permanent E15 sales,” Lamberty said.

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EPA Grants Refinery Exemptions, Proposes Reallocation

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The Environmental Protection Agency today announced its decisions on 34 individual small refinery exemption petitions for the 2025 compliance year, granting full (100 percent) exemptions to 18 petitions, partial (50 percent) exemptions to 11 petitions, denying three petitions, and determining two petitions to be ineligible.

Based on that analysis, EPA is exempting 1.76 billion RFS compliance credits, known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), for 29 small refineries. EPA will propose to reallocate 100 percent of the difference between projected and actual exempted volumes for 2025 SREs into the 2026 and 2027 Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) before the end of October 2026.

Due to the agency’s 2025 SRE decisions, EPA will also be announcing a direct final rule to extend the 2025 RVO compliance date by 30 days to October 1, 2026. This will allow the market to appropriately account for the additional RINs.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said they still believe most of the SREs issued are completely unjustified but they are somewhat encouraged that EPA is taking steps to minimize the damage through reallocation. “The proposed plan laid out by EPA today creates a pathway for ensuring no net loss in renewable fuel demand, and it is crucially important that the agency moves quickly to faithfully implement this approach. At a time when oil refiners are reporting record-high profit margins, gasoline supplies are tightening, and consumers are paying record-high prices at the pump, the administration should focus on efforts to increase—not decrease—the domestic production and use of more affordable biofuels like ethanol,” said Cooper.

“The RFS has been in place for more than 20 years, and Congress never intended for SREs to be a permanent entitlement for Fortune 500 oil refining companies,” Cooper added. “The exemptions were always meant to be a temporary measure to give truly small, independent refiners a little more time to come into compliance with the RFS program. Unfortunately, many so-called small refiners have been allowed to exploit this loophole for two decades, putting American consumers, farmers, and biofuel producers on the losing end.”

American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) CEO Brian Jennings also stressed the implications the SREs pose for agricultural producers. “American farmers continue to struggle to make ends meet, while oil refineries are posting record profits. In this context, it does not make sense to exempt any refiners from blending low-cost renewable fuels into their outrageously expensive petroleum products,” said Jennings. “Nevertheless, we appreciate that EPA is taking steps to reallocate the exempt volume to non-exempt refiners and look forward to seeing that promise fulfilled. Until reallocation is final and complete, every exempted gallon is an economic drain on rural America.”

Jennings expressed concerns about the impact today’s action might have on work to get nationwide, year-round E15 passed by Congress. “This SRE controversy has essentially hijacked efforts in the Senate to finally adopt legislation simply allowing retailers nationwide to sell low-cost E15 to their customers year-round. Given EPA’s actions today, we once again call on the Senate to work in a bipartisan way to get E15 legislation over the finish line this year,” said Jennings.

ACE, EPA, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Oil, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA, RFS

California E15 Dreaming Continues

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The California legislature is considering a bill that would finally allow E15 to be sold in the state, nearly a year after lawmakers unanimously passed and the governor signed legislation in 2025 allowing those sales. But it must be passed by midnight tonight when the legislative session comes to a close.

The E15 Clean-Up Act (Calif. SB 795) was amended in the Assembly over the weekend in an effort to allow the authorization of gasoline vapor control systems for E15 compatibility. The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) has been working closely with California state Sen. Bob Archuletta (D-Pico Rivera), Assemblymember David Alvarez (D-San Diego), Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Valencia) and the bipartisan Problem Solvers Caucus to get the legislation to this point.

According to RFA, the bill would allow retailers to use existing Stage II equipment to dispense E15 if the manufacturer of that equipment submits a statement of compatibility to the relevant state agencies.

The California Environmental Policy Council recently voted unanimously to approve the E15 multimedia analysis, the final step in the regulatory process to formally approve E15. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is expected to approve its E15 regulation at its Sept. 24 meeting.

However, RFA’s Robert White says the dispenser problem remains even with CARB approval. “Until the resolution is reached on stage 2 vapor recovery, the final rulemaking from CARB is for naught because we will still have that equipment issue,” said White in the latest Ethanol Report podcast. “But hopefully a path forward is coming soon and consumers will finally get that opportunity to embrace that lower price product.”

No matter what happens, White says RFA will continue working with retailers in California to get them ready to sell E15 as soon as they can. “We think we’re getting to the end and we need more retailers at the ready than what we already have,” White says. “California will be different than any other state because the retail infrastructure is more ready than any other state. They can sell it year round as we still wait on Congress and the price point will be so much less and at the same time it meets all of their environmental goals that they’ve been trying to achieve for a very long time.”

RFA will be kicking off its retailer workshops next week at the CFCA Summit, organized by the California Fuels and Convenience Alliance, the state’s largest annual gathering for the petroleum and convenience store industries.

E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News, Renewable Fuels Association, RFA

Ethanol Under Fire

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Image posted on Sen. Mike Lee’s X account

Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) launched a full-fledged attack on corn ethanol over the weekend with nine posts on his X account, calling on President Trump to “end the tyranny of the Cornography Caucus” and saying all Republicans should categorically reject federal “ethanol mandates” that “let government pick winners and losers in the economy.”

Starting with a link to a Washington Post opinion piece written by Heritage Foundation Executive Vice President Derrick Morgan calling for reducing biofuel standards in gasoline, Sen. Lee went scorched earth on the ethanol industry and corn growers on August 29, including a post saying “Americans are getting screwed at the gas pump by Big Corn, which profits enormously from federal mandates requiring us to use corn to fuel our cars.”

Lee also put up an X polling question, which received over 5200 votes saying no to, “Should the government force us to drive corn-burning cars—knowing that it adds significantly to what Americans pay at the gas pump—just so we can make a few rich agricultural giants even richer?”

As chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Sen. Lee is a longtime opponent of the the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and is also against year-round E15, which is included in the Senate version of the Farm Bill the agriculture committee is expected to revisit after the August recess. His attacks come as the Trump administration is poised to approve small refinery exemptions as soon as today covering more than 1.8 billion RINs (renewable identification numbers), well above the roughly 1 billion RINs the EPA had previously projected. Applicants include plants owned by Marathon Petroleum and Chevron. President Trump is scheduled to host refining executives at the White House tomorrow.

Ag groups and biofuel producers have pushed back, arguing the extra waivers would undercut the record-high 2026 RFS volumes finalized in March. The administration is reportedly considering an offset by adding at least 500 million RINS to the 2027 quotas.

Ethanol, Ethanol News, RFS

DOE Report Shows E15 Savings

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A report published by the Department of Energy found that E15 prices in April were up to $0.47 per gallon less than standard E10 gasoline on average, an 11.5 percent discount. The DOE report, which is based on actual pricing data collected from the marketplace, also showed E15 costs 8 percent less at the pump on an energy basis—meaning drivers choosing E15 pay less per mile traveled than drivers choosing E10.

The Clean Cities and Communities Alternative Fuel Report is a quarterly publication that has been collecting and reporting alternative fuel prices since April 2000, and the report in July was the first time it included E15 prices. It shows that the average E15 price in April was $3.62 per gallon compared to an average E10 price of $4.09 per gallon. The data also show that regular gasoline prices jumped by $1.20 per gallon, or 42 percent, between January and April as global oil supply disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz caused retail prices to spike.

Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper said the report further underscores the fact that expanded ethanol consumption, driven by the Renewable Fuel Standard and its RIN market mechanism, is leading to lower prices at the pump for American consumers.

“While a handful of stubborn oil refining companies continue to suggest that the RFS somehow leads to higher prices at the pump, this new data from DOE proves that the exact opposite is true,” said Cooper. “After the Trump administration finalized the highest-ever RFS volumes back in March, the marketplace responded by expanding the supply of lower-cost E15. As this report shows, American drivers who have access to E15 are saving real money with each fill-up, and those savings are being enabled by the RFS and RIN values. Undermining the RFS with small refinery exemptions, as is reportedly being considered, would reverse this progress and lead to higher prices at the pump. Granting massive SREs would do nothing at all to lower pump prices and, in fact, would have the opposite effect.”

E15, Ethanol, Ethanol News