American renewable fuel manufacturers launched a concerted defense of national blending quotas following petitions by oil-refining states to suspend Clean Air Act mandates. In a formal petition delivered on November 13, 2026, Renewable Fuels Association President and CEO Geoff Cooper called upon Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to reject waiver demands submitted by the state governors of Louisiana and Alabama in recent days. The governors argued that 2027 Renewable Fuel Standard targets exacerbate domestic diesel and gasoline price volatility.
Statutory Burden of Proof and Fuel Market Inflation
Federal clean energy organizations argued that state petitions failed to document the severe economic harm legally required to grant an emergency exemption. In his November 13 letter to Administrator Zeldin, Renewable Fuels Association chief Geoff Cooper wrote: “The answer to higher petroleum prices is more reliable, affordable American fuel—not less. We urge EPA to promptly deny the governors' request without opening a notice-and-comment proceeding, maintain the 2027 renewable fuel standards, and uphold the market certainty necessary to support American farmers, renewable fuel producers, and consumers.”
Wholesale ethanol prices remained approximately one dollar per gallon below wholesale petroleum gasoline throughout early November. Cooper emphasized that international supply turbulence throughout maritime crude transit chokepoints, rather than blending mandates, drove refinery feedstock cost increases.
Agricultural Supply Chain and Historical Waiver Precedents
Agricultural associations joined the biofuel campaign, warning that blending rollbacks would undermine farm income across Midwest and Southern grain belts. EPA historical records show that administrators have denied all twenty-two general waiver petitions submitted by state governors since 2008, and the agency will review the filings under established statutory guidelines.
