U.S. oil, biofuel group recommends 5.25 Bgal in biomass diesel mandates

A U.S. and biofuel coalition recommended that the Environmental Protection Agency propose federal mandates for biomass diesel blending for 2026 at 5.25 billion gallons (Bgal), which would be a significant increase from previous mandates.

The coalition also recommended total federal biofuel blending mandates for 2026 at 25 Bgal, the sources said. The coalition, led by the American Petroleum Institute, a top U.S. oil trade group, presented the figures to the EPA in a meeting last week.

While the recommendations were for one year of mandates, the EPA is expected to release a proposal that covers both 2026 and 2027, Reuters previously reported.

The coalition's suggestion of 5.25 Bgal for biomass-based diesel mandates was slightly lower than the range of 5.5 Bgal to 5.75 Bgal considered ahead of the meeting.

Big Oil and the Farm Belt's biofuel makers are traditional competitors in the multibillion-dollar U.S. gasoline market, but have come together to form a consensus at the request of the White House in recent months in hopes of avoiding the type of clashes that defined the first Trump administration.

The new 5.25 Bgal figure from the API-led coalition is in line with a number recommended to the EPA by Clean Fuels Alliance America - a U.S. biodiesel trade group - along with farm and feedstock groups.

In a mid-March letter to EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin, that coalition said EPA's previous mandates failed to support the growth of the advanced biofuel industry and undercut the market.

The EPA set biomass-based diesel mandates for the 2025 compliance year at 3.35 Bgal. 

Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard, oil refiners must blend billions of gallons of biofuels into the nation's fuel mix, or buy tradable credits from those that do.

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