Growth Energy Files Notice of Intent to Sue EPA for Delayed 2026 RFS Set Rule

WASHINGTON, D.C.-Growth Energy, the nation's largest biofuel trade association, today filed a notice of intent to sue the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regarding the agency's anticipated failure to meet its statutory deadline for issuing the 2026 Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).

EPA is required by law to finalize RFS volumes for 2026 by November 1, 2024. However, the White House's recently-published Spring 2024 unified agendaindicates that the agency will not finalize the delayed 2026 RFS Set Rule until December 2025, more than a year late.

"The law doesn't change just because EPA gives advance notice of its failure to comply," said Growth Energy CEO Emily Skor. "America's biofuel producers and their farm partners rely on the certainty the RFS provides in order to make investments that bear fruit in the form of lower fuel costs for consumers, more jobs in rural communities, and lower carbon emissions. Growth Energy has held EPA accountable for its delays in the past, and we will continue to do so in order to ensure that the agency follows the law and that biofuel producers can plan for the future."

Growth Energy has filed similar lawsuits to force EPA to comply with its statutory deadlines in 2020and in 2021. In 2022, Growth Energy and EPA submitted a consent decree agreementto the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that required EPA to propose the 2023 renewable fuel volume requirements no later than November 16, 2022, and to finalize those requirements no later than June 14, 2023. On November 4, 2022, Growth Energy agreed to a two-week extension on the proposal, and EPA filed its proposed RVOs for 2023-2025 on December 1, 2022. That proposal was ultimately revised and finalized by the agencyin June 2023, following another one-week delay to which Growth Energy also consented.

Read the notice of intent to sue regarding the delayed 2026 RFS Set Rule here. Learn more about the Renewable Fuel Standard and its importance to the biofuel industry here.