State attorney generals ask feds to investigate hardship claims made by ‘thriving’ refiners that were granted RFS waivers

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, along with the attorney generals of South Dakota and Nebraska, sent a joint letter Oct. 30 to several federal agencies to investigate refiners that could be misleading regulators to seek exemptions of the Renewable Fuel Standard program.

The letter notes that of the 140 full or partial RFS small-refinery exemptions (SREs) the U.S. EPA granted in its 2025 notice, several of these refiners are communicating to shareholders and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that they are “economically thriving.” 

“These statements made in public to financial regulators and investors appear to be inconsistent with what must be contemporaneous statements of disproportionate hardship to environmental regulators,” the attorney generals stated in the letter. “Both strong economic results and disproportionate economic hardships cannot coexist.”

Monte Shaw, executive director of the Iowa Renewable Fuels Association, said, “IRFA applauds Attorney General Bird for leading the effort to bring this potentially illegal situation to light. In a time when crop prices are low and increased biofuels usage is a key solution, it is deeply troubling to see what appears to be an attempt by some oil refiners to game the system and avoid their legal requirements under the RFS. We are fully behind Attorney General Bird’s call to investigate these conflicting claims."

The Midwest attorney generals’ letter was directed to the EPA, DOE, SEC and the justice department.