FMCSA extends hours-of-service waiver to cover fuel ethanol and denatured ethanol through December 16, 2026
Ethanol haulers now get the same hours-of-service relief that gasoline and diesel drivers have had since September. The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration amended its waiver on the September 16 order to spell out that interstate carriers moving fuel ethanol and denatured ethanol qualify too. That relief runs through December 16, 2026.
The original waiver was built for the fall demand bump, when fuel moves hard and drivers run up against the clock. Ethanol got left out of the plain language even though it rides in the same gasoline supply chain at a 10 percent blend. Carriers hauling denatured product across state lines were stuck guessing whether they were covered. Now they are.
For a jobber running tight on driver hours into the blending season, this is the one item on the list that touches your dispatch board tomorrow. Longer legal driving windows mean fewer loads stranded when a terminal runs long or a rack backs up.
Marine fuels and the RFS
A group of lawmakers is asking EPA to spell out how renewable fuels burned in marine engines generate RINs, which would widen Renewable Fuel Standard eligibility for marine fuels. The request was reported by Ethanol Producer Magazine.
The marine market is a big potential home for renewable diesel and biodiesel that currently has thin RFS treatment. If EPA broadens eligibility, it could open a fresh RIN stream and pull more gallons toward the water. Nothing changes until the agency acts, and EPA has not said when it might.
Palm oil and the feedstock bid
Palm oil prices firmed into October on expectations of tighter global supply as biodiesel programs scale. Indonesia's B50 mandate and strong Indian import demand are the drivers, per CMB News, with both ringgit and dollar contracts trading moderately above late-2025 levels. Speculative positioning has turned more constructive.
This is a foreign mandate, so why care. Vegetable oils trade as a complex. When palm climbs on Indonesian biodiesel demand, soybean oil and the rest of the feedstock stack tend to follow, and soybean oil is what feeds US renewable diesel plants on the Gulf Coast. A firmer global oil bid could lift RD production costs here and pressure margins for anyone buying feedstock-linked gallons.
The Druzhba strike
Drones set a pumping station on the Druzhba pipeline ablaze, per UNITED24 Media. The route carries Russian crude into central Europe. The direct US supply effect is small, but another hit on Russian export infrastructure adds to the crude risk premium that sets the base cost under every gallon you buy.
What to watch
Whether EPA responds to the marine RFS letter, and whether firmer palm oil carries into soybean oil and squeezes US renewable diesel feedstock costs. Watch the December 16 waiver expiration too.