Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025

The bill would amend the Clean Air Act to apply the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver — which relaxes summer ozone-season volatility limits — to gasoline blended with 10 to 15 percent ethanol, not just 10 percent. This would allow E15 fuel to be sold at retail stations nationwide year-round. The bill would also nullify RVP exclusions that states submitted after January 1, 2022, and before enactment, though states could file new exclusion notifications going forward. EPA would be required to finalize new rules on E15 dispenser labeling and underground storage tank compatibility within 18 months of enactment.

For the Renewable Fuel Standard program, the bill would define a new category of "small refining company" (daily production of 75,000 barrels or fewer in 2025), reduce their renewable fuel compliance obligations by 75 percent starting in 2028, end the existing small-refinery exemption petition process after 2027, and return compliance credits to small refineries that had retired them for 2016–2018 under specific circumstances. A separate at-risk exemption pathway would allow qualifying small refineries facing imminent closure to petition EPA annually beginning in 2028.

Fuel retailers and convenience stores that sell or wish to sell E15 gasoline; consumers who buy motor fuel; ethanol producers and blenders who benefit from expanded E15 markets; small petroleum refineries that must meet Renewable Fuel Standard blending obligations; states that previously sought exclusions from the E15 volatility waiver; and EPA, which must promulgate new fuel infrastructure rules.

Fuel retailers in states where summer E15 sales were restricted would gain year-round access to the lower-cost blended fuel, and ethanol producers would see broader demand. Small refineries — which have long sought relief from RFS blending costs — would see their compliance burden cut by three-quarters starting in 2028, with credits restored for prior years. States that had secured exclusions from the E15 waiver would lose those exclusions and would need to re-petition under the new standard.

EPA would carry out this bill on two tracks. On the fuel-infrastructure track, the Administrator must publish a proposed rule, accept public comment, and finalize regulations modifying E15 dispenser labeling and underground storage tank compatibility requirements within 18 months of enactment. On the Renewable Fuel Standard track, EPA must begin applying the 75 percent compliance reduction for qualifying small refining companies in calendar year 2028, process all outstanding small-refinery exemption petitions by October 1, 2028, and handle new at-risk exemption petitions within 90 days of receipt. EPA must also post at-risk petitions publicly within 30 days of submission and may not reallocate reduced obligations to other parties. States wishing to opt out of the expanded E15 RVP waiver must submit new governor notifications after enactment.