Protect Consumers from Reallocation Costs Act of 2025
This bill, titled the Protect Consumers from Reallocation Costs Act of 2025, would change how the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is applied to small refineries that receive exemptions. Specifically, it would prohibit the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from reallocating a small refinery’s renewable fuel obligation (RVO) to other parties when that refinery receives an extension of an exemption. It also requires that any gasoline or diesel produced by a small refinery with such an exemption be counted toward the total volume of fuel produced or imported by the owner when calculating that owner’s renewable fuel obligations. In short, the bill aims to prevent shifting the burden of compliance from exempt small refineries to other refiners and to treat exempted volumes as part of the owner’s overall production base for RFS calculations. The intended effect is to shield consumers from potential costs or price effects tied to reallocation of obligations and to ensure that exempted volumes are integrated into the owning entity’s compliance calculations rather than redistributed elsewhere.
Key Points
- 1Prohibition on reallocating obligated volumes: The EPA may not reallocate any renewable fuel obligation that applies to a small refinery to which an exemption extension under the RFS rules applies, for purposes of annual determinations.
- 2Inclusion of exempted volumes in owner’s totals: When calculating an owner’s renewable fuel obligations for a calendar year, the gasoline or diesel refined by a small refinery owned or operated by that owner and receiving an exemption extension must be included in the owner’s total fuel production/imports for that year.
- 3Scope of the prohibition: Applies to the determinations for each calendar year, specifically to small refineries with an extended exemption.
- 4Relationship to existing exemptions: The bill targets the practice of reallocating waived obligations from exemptions, not the granting of the exemptions themselves.
- 5Overall aim: To limit the ability of the RFS system to shift compliance burden between refiners and to ensure exempted volumes are counted within the owning entity’s production base.