There is a lot of optimism in the ethanol industry right now that 2025 is the year the ethanol industry will finally win the ability to sell 15 percent ethanol blended fuel nationwide all year long.
American Coalition for Ethanol CEO Brian Jennings said at the organization’s annual meeting this week that the odds seem to favor passage of legislation before the end of the year. “The board asked me to give odds for our likelihood of getting the bipartisan National Fuel Retailer and Consumer Choice Act across the finish line this year. And I told them I thought it was better than 50 percent,” said Jennings. “Congressman Dusty Johnson bested me and he said it’s north of 70%. And that’s really encouraging to hear.”
Small refinery exemptions are back in the news this week with the Trump administration expected to possibly make an announcement today on the fate of nearly 200 pending SRE requests. Jennings hopes the roller coaster saga of exemptions over the past two presidential administrations will finally find some middle ground.
“It’s a really challenging job and they’re not going to make everyone happy. And we know that they’re likely to approve some, they’re likely to deny some. The refiners are gonna complain, and we might too,” said Jennings. “The good news is that the second Trump administration is taking the approach we were hoping for all along for the future…For 2026 and 2027 when, and there will be some, when the Trump EPA allows refinery exemptions, the gallons of renewable fuel those small refineries were supposed to blend will be reallocated to other refiners. In other words, the RVOs remain whole. And that’s exactly the way we wanted it done.”
Jennings also talks about 45Z and sustainable aviation fuel, as well as the RFS 20 years later, in this interview from the ACE Annual Conference in Sioux Falls, SD.
2025 ACE conference - Brian Jennings, ACE (16:19)