Lincoln, NE. On August 8th, Nebraska Farmers Union (NeFU), Nebraska’s longest ethanol advocate submitted their formal comments to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the agency’s proposed rule establishing volume requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2026 and 2027. NeFU comments expressed support for the volume increases and urged EPA to finalize and adopt without delay.
The proposed rule recommends an increase of roughly 2 billion gallons in the U.S. total renewable fuel volume by 2027 while keeping the conventional corn ethanol volumes at 15 billion gallons, and partially waiving the 2025 cellulosic biofuel volume requirements.
NeFU’s comments also supported biomass-based diesel volume requirements and the use of higher blend ethanol utilization. In part, the letter said:
“We write this letter in strong support of the proposed increases from 2025 in the biomass-based diesel volume requirements for compliance years 2026 and 2027. NeFU also strongly supports maintaining the “implied” conventional biofuel volume requirement at 15 billion gallons for these years. The 15 billion gallon requirement provides incentives for using higher ethanol blends. Although EPA continues to focus on E15 and E85, there are numerous offerings of mid-level ethanol blends for use in flexible fuel vehicles that it does not appear that EPA includes in its analysis. Further, mid-level ethanol blends can be utilized in non-flexible fuel vehicles, and we urge EPA to take action to allow their use under the Clean Air Act.”
NeFU pointed out Nebraska is the nation’s second largest ethanol producing state, and ranked third in corn production.
