With planting season coming soon in many parts of the country, farmers and ethanol producers are looking for clear answers to take full advantage of the 45Z clean fuel production tax credit.

Republican lawmakers sent a letter this week to the Secretaries of Treasury Scott Bessent, Energy Chris Wright, and Agriculture Brooke Rollins urging final rules that recognize on-farm conservation practices like no-till, cover crops, and optimized fertilizer use, providing flexibility without bundling or excessive bureaucracy. The lawmakers, led by Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks (R-IA), call for swift integration of the 45ZCF FD-CIC calculator into the GREET model, distinct emission pathways for manure-derived RNG, and a “Book and Claim” framework to broaden farmer participation. Emphasizing urgency ahead of planting season, they seek clarity to boost markets for U.S. producers and reward agricultural innovation under the extended credit through 2029.

The tax credit was the topic of a panel at the recent National Ethanol Conference, moderated by Renewable Fuels Association Policy Counsel and Director, Government Affairs, Jared Mullendore.

With tax filing season coming up, Mullendore says we have to accept the lack of final guidance that answers every possible question that could come up. “Because you’re going to operate with a certain degree of uncertainty in the first few years of a tax credit…You know, we’re going to have to embrace that uncertainty.”

Joining Mullendore on the panel were Rebecca Johnson, Christianson PLLP; Faith Larson, Mickelson & Company; and Marc Nickel with Aon, a British-American professional services firm that offers risk-mitigation products and consulting. Nickel says the proposed rulemaking released by Treasury on February 4 was very helpful. “We’re in a way better place than we were a month ago. We just got some very excellent proposed regs, which cleared up a lot of the issues,” said Nickel. “And those two really biggest issues were, were sales going to be deemed qualified if they were going to blenders, which most ethanol sales do. Very big issue for this industry. And whether the modeling of carbon intensity was also going to be respected. The proposed regs definitively cleared up the qualified sale issue, and now it is off to the races with that. And it gave us some very, very good directional guidance on carbon intensity.”

Listen to interviews with Mullendore and Nickel, as well as the full panel below to learn more about the status of 45Z going into tax time and planting season.