The North American renewable fuel industry is waiting for answers from both the outgoing and incoming administrations in the U.S. to big policy questions that will have a major impact on future demand for crops as feedstocks.
President-elect Trump’s nominee for leading the Environmental Protection Agency — New York congressman Lee Zeldin — has a history of opposing renewable fuel legislation. At the same time, Trump’s nominee for Interior Secretary, who will chair a new National Energy Council — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum — is well-versed on the importance of renewable fuels.
“We certainly have our work cut out for us, but we’ve been here before,” says Geoff Cooper, president and CEO of the Renewable Fuels Association, in the interview below, speaking with Shaun Haney at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters’ 2024 convention in Kansas City, Missouri.
“We have an opportunity to underscore that ethanol and renewable fuels really check a lot of the boxes of the things they say are important to them, whether that’s energy security, American energy dominance, manufacturing jobs, bringing manufacturing back to rural America, or lowering fuel costs for consumers,” he says. (continues below)
At the same time, the industry is still waiting for details from the outgoing Biden administration on criteria for the 45Z tax credit and policies implemented under the Inflation Reduction Act. 2025 is already destined to be a lost year, says Cooper, as the industry is still waiting for a proposed rule that was expected back in summer.
“We’re sitting here in mid-November and we still don’t have even a proposed rule on 45Z,” he says. “What we’re told by the Treasury is that they’re still wrestling with how to tie in climate smart ag practices, still struggling with some of the modeling issues and questions, and at this point, it’s really a crapshoot whether we see a proposal before the administration changes hands.”
That includes the question of whether the 45Z tax credits will only apply to feedstocks grown in the U.S. This requirement, which aims to prevent the subsidization of Chinese used cooking oil and Brazilian tallow imports, could also keep canola and corn from Canada out of the U.S. renewable fuel market.
“That’s why we’ve been a little bit hesitant on endorsing some of the legislation that’s out there that would just put a blanket ban on eligibility for any foreign feedstocks,” says Cooper. “We get a lot of feedstock from Canada for biodiesel and renewable diesel. We ship them a lot of ethanol in return. That’s working well, and we don’t want to mess that up.”
Check out the interview above for more with the RFA’s Geoff Cooper on the political uncertainty facing the North American renewable fuel market.
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