diff --git a/xml2rfc/run.py b/xml2rfc/run.py
index 5c7fb7d7a..1a76d97a5 100755
--- a/xml2rfc/run.py
+++ b/xml2rfc/run.py
@@ -315,6 +315,8 @@ def main():
                            help=configargparse.SUPPRESS),
     htmloptions.add_argument('--no-inline-version-info', action='store_false', dest="inline_version_info",
                            help=configargparse.SUPPRESS),
+    htmloptions.add_argument('--no-rfc-local', action='store_false', dest='rfc_local', default=True,
+                             help='Do not link to rfc-local.css')
 
     v2v3options = optionparser.add_argument_group('V2-V3 Converter Options')
     v2v3options.add_argument('--add-xinclude', action='store_true',
diff --git a/xml2rfc/writers/base.py b/xml2rfc/writers/base.py
index 5b3af9d06..22e092bde 100644
--- a/xml2rfc/writers/base.py
+++ b/xml2rfc/writers/base.py
@@ -100,6 +100,7 @@
         'raw': False,
         'rfc': None,
         'rfc_base_url': 'https://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/',
+        'rfc_local': True,
         'rfc_reference_base_url': 'https://rfc-editor.org/rfc/',
         'silence': default_silenced_messages,
         'skip_config_files': False,
diff --git a/xml2rfc/writers/html.py b/xml2rfc/writers/html.py
index c694dc27e..58c90de0d 100644
--- a/xml2rfc/writers/html.py
+++ b/xml2rfc/writers/html.py
@@ -574,7 +574,7 @@ def render_rfc(self, h, x):
         else:
             add.style(head, None, css, type="text/css")
 
-        if not (self.options.pdf and not os.path.exists('rfc-local.css')):
+        if self.options.rfc_local and (not self.options.pdf or os.path.exists('rfc-local.css')):
             add.link(head, None, href="rfc-local.css", rel="stylesheet", type="text/css")
 
     # 6.3.7.  Links