New Report Challenges Claims of “Renewable” Diesel Plans

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Audrey Leonard, Columbia Riverkeeper: 541-399-4775

New Report Challenges Claims of “Renewable” Diesel Plans

Proposed refinery near Clatskanie promises to support climate goals, but new report shows it would have difficulty finding low-carbon feedstock

November 19, 2025 (Portland, Ore.) — A new report released today by Columbia Riverkeeper found that the proposed NEXT Renewable Fuels, Inc. refinery at Port Westward, is unlikely to be able to make large quantities of truly low-carbon fuel. The report outlines the market forces and stark realities that are likely to amplify NEXT’s real climate impacts while reducing the company’s potential profitability. 

“The proposed NEXT refinery at Port Westward promises to support Oregon’s climate goals,” said Audrey Leonard, Staff Attorney for Columbia Riverkeeper. “But their energy-intensive production process and a scarcity of low-carbon feedstock will mean dirtier fuel—and financial challenges for the company.”

Renewable diesel is made out of non-petroleum feedstocks, such as vegetable oils, animal fats, and used cooking oil, and is processed to be chemically the same as petroleum diesel. Soybean and canola oil feedstocks have the highest “carbon-intensity” due to energy-intensive production processes which rely heavily on fossil fuels and result in substantial greenhouse gas emissions. Feedstocks that come from waste products, like used cooking oil or waste animal fats, have a lower carbon-intensity because they are byproducts.

The report found that it will likely be difficult, or too expensive, for NEXT to use meaningful quantities of the low-carbon feedstocks. Instead, new “renewable” diesel facilities, including NEXT, will mostly use high-carbon, purpose-grown edible vegetable oils. In 2025, these kinds of high-carbon feedstocks are projected to account for 92 percent of the feedstock mix for new renewable diesel refineries like NEXT’s.

“When you consider the lifecycle analysis of high-carbon feedstocks, you find that the stages of production emit a concerning amount of climate-warming and health-warming emissions,” said Samantha Hernandez, Healthy Climate Program Director for Oregon Physicians for Social Responsibility. “From cultivation to processing to transportation, high-carbon feedstocks pose a risk to our climate and health. This report illuminates the reality that NEXT’s operations will likely contribute to driving the climate crisis we are already experiencing and its detrimental health consequences.”

In addition to escalating climate impacts, new rules would limit NEXT’s profitability in important markets that generate lucrative carbon-offset credits. California (where most renewable diesel is used in the U.S.) recently updated its Low Carbon Fuel Standard to limit eligibility for fuels made  from food crops to just 20 percent of a refinery’s annual production. This rule change means that much of NEXT’s fuel could be ineligible for valuable credits when sold in California, a blow to NEXT’s profit margin. Similarly, the City of Portland set carbon intensity standards in its Clean Fuel Standard program to exclude diesel made from food crops, limiting NEXT’s ability to access this market as well. 

“This meticulously researched report shows—yet again—that NEXT’s backers can’t be trusted,” said Miles Johnson, Legal Director for Columbia Riverkeeper. “Governor Kotek and other Oregon leaders should stop listening to NEXT’s greenwashing before it’s too late to prevent a mega-polluting refinery in the Columbia River estuary.”

Port Westward is in the heart of the Columbia River Estuary, close to the town of Clatskanie. Houston-based NEXT’s proposed refinery would be built in the midst of abundant berry fields, world-class mint production, forestry, salmon habitat, sensitive wetlands, dikes, liquefiable soils, and current and historic fishing grounds. If built, NEXT’s refinery would destroy over 100 acres of wetlands, harm local farms, and result in substantial climate-changing pollution. The proposed refinery is on track to become the second largest “renewable” diesel refinery in the United States, and could use as much fracked gas as the entire city of Eugene. 

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