Iowa Biodiesel Board implores EPA to finalize Renewable Fuel Standard by Jan. 31

The Iowa Biodiesel Board is urgently calling on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to finalize the 2026-’27 Renewable Fuel Standard rule by Jan. 31.  

The agency has said that any delay into February or March would push compliance to June, a move the IBB said would create a catastrophic gap that Iowa’s independent, farmer-owned biodiesel plants may not be able to survive.   

“Time is running out,” said Grant Kimberley, IBB’s executive director. “We have independent plants that may not be able to hold on much longer. If EPA delays this rule, we face the potential loss of farmer-owned energy infrastructure that took years to build—infrastructure that may never be recovered.” 

Iowa’s independent plants are largely owned by farmer investors, and they lack the financial reserves of larger competitors to weather extended regulatory uncertainty, he said. 

“These facilities represent years of farmer investment to diversify operations, which in turn could reduce dependence on China and other volatile markets for soybean farmers,” Kimberley said. “Every week of delay deepens the hole and makes it harder to dig out. The longer this drags on, the more we hurt the farmers who invested in their own diversified future. The damage may soon become unrecoverable.”  

The state has eight operating plants, three of which are independent.  

Biodiesel represents 10 percent of the value of every bushel of soybeans grown in the United States, and farmers are making critical planting decisions for the upcoming season, he said. 

“EPA must act now to protect years of farmer investment and preserve the energy diversification our agricultural economy desperately needs,” Kimberley concluded. “The Jan. 31 deadline is becoming more urgent by the day.”