National Energy Dominance Council Emerges as Quiet Power Broker in Renewable Fuel Standard Battles
Trump White House coordination body reshapes how RFS disputes are settled — without rewriting the law
When President Donald Trump signed an executive order in February 2025 creating the National Energy Dominance Council, the move drew relatively little attention outside energy circles. But nearly a year into its operation, the council has become a central — if largely behind-the-scenes — force shaping how the administration navigates some of the most contentious fights in U.S. energy policy, including disputes surrounding the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).
The council does not administer the RFS, does not write blending mandates, and does not replace the Environmental Protection Agency’s statutory authority. What it does instead is increasingly consequential: it serves as the White House clearinghouse where RFS conflicts are resolved politically before they are finalized legally. And that sometimes can delay important RFS decisions.
A White House council, not a new agency
The National Energy Dominance Council was established by executive order and sits within the Executive Office of the President. It is chaired by the Secretary of the Interior and vice-chaired by the Secretary of Energy, with membership drawn from across the Cabinet and senior White House staff.
Among its formal members is Stephen Miller, serving in his capacity as Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. While Miller does not lead the council or hold an energy-specific portfolio, his role is pivotal. As the White House’s chief domestic policy enforcer, Miller ensures that council decisions translate into binding direction for agencies — including EPA, USDA, DOE, DOJ, and OMB.
This structure matters because it changes how energy policy disputes are handled. Instead of EPA resolving RFS issues largely within its own regulatory process, disagreements are increasingly elevated to the White House, where energy, agriculture, trade, legal risk, and political strategy are weighed simultaneously.
Where RFS authority still sits
Legally, nothing about the RFS has changed. Authority remains with the Environmental Protection Agency, which sets annual Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs), administers compliance, rules on Small Refinery Exemptions (SREs), and RIN policy. USDA continues to play an advisory role, particularly on farm-sector impacts, while the Department of Energy provides technical and market analysis.
The council does not override these roles. What it does is coordinate them — and, crucially, impose White House discipline when agency priorities clash.
Why the council matters for RFS fights
RFS policy has long been a flashpoint between farm-state interests, refiners, biofuel producers, and fuel marketers. Under the Trump administration, those tensions are no longer left to EPA alone.
Small Refinery Exemptions are the clearest example. While EPA retains final authority to grant or deny exemptions, the council shapes the framework EPA operates within — particularly how narrowly or broadly “disproportionate economic hardship” is interpreted, and how aggressively EPA defends its decisions in court. By aligning EPA, DOJ, and OMB early, the council reduces the risk that exemption policies collapse under judicial scrutiny, a recurring problem in past administrations.
The council also influences RVO negotiations, not by setting volumes, but by forcing interagency trade-offs into the open. Ethanol blending targets, refinery margins, diesel supply, renewable diesel growth, RINs and inflation concerns are debated as part of a broader “energy dominance” strategy rather than siloed regulatory decisions. The key word now in the Trump administration is affordability issues.
RFS reframed as energy dominance policy
One of the council’s most significant contributions is reframing the RFS within Trump’s broader energy narrative. Rather than treating ethanol and biodiesel primarily as climate tools, the council integrates them into arguments about:
- Domestic energy security
- Rural economic stability
- Fuel price moderation
- Export leverage and trade negotiations
This framing strengthens USDA’s position in internal debates and ties biofuels more directly to national security and economic messaging — areas where the White House, rather than EPA, traditionally dominates. But affordability issues can temper some agency arguments.
Stephen Miller’s role: enforcement, not ethanol math
Stephen Miller’s influence is structural rather than technical. He does not calculate RVOs or adjudicate blending economics. Instead, he ensures that once the council settles on a direction — whether tightening SRE standards, emphasizing rural impacts, or prioritizing refinery stability — agencies follow through.
Miller also plays a central role in legal durability. RFS decisions increasingly arrive at EPA shaped by White House legal strategy designed to withstand challenges under the Clean Air Act, administrative law, and evolving Supreme Court doctrine.
What the council does — and does not — do
The National Energy Dominance Council:
- Coordinates RFS policy disputes across agencies
- Elevates unresolved conflicts to the White House
- Aligns legal, economic, and political strategy
- Integrates biofuels into broader energy dominance goals
It does not:
- Write RFS rules
- Set statutory volumes
- Administer compliance
- Change the underlying law
Those limits remain firm unless Congress acts.
The bottom line for agriculture and biofuels
For ethanol producers, soybean oil processors, renewable diesel developers, and farm-state lawmakers, the council represents a structural shift in how RFS outcomes are shaped. The battleground has moved upstream — from EPA rulemakings to White House coordination.
In practical terms, that means RFS decisions are now less likely to reflect narrow regulatory logic alone and more likely to balance affordability, farm income, refinery economics, legal risk, and presidential priorities (key topic: affordability). For supporters and critics alike, the National Energy Dominance Council has become the place where RFS fights are decided — before they ever reach the Federal Register.
