27-11-2012

Congress should repeal unworkable renewable fuels standard

API Downstream Group Director Robert Greco told reporters this morning that the federal Renewable Fuels Standard should be eliminated because it is not working well and because it will force higher concentrations of ethanol in gasoline that could harm vehicles:

“We believe the Renewable Fuels Standard is unworkable and should be repealed. Despite repeated and ongoing efforts to address the program’s shortcomings – through regulatory petitions, legal actions and suggested solutions to implementation concerns – little has been done to make the program workable, and sometimes actions have been taken that make matters worse. There is a fundamental flaw in the enabling statute so the only way to fix it is to scrap the law and start over if Congress believes such a program is necessary.

“The other critical reality is that the RFS program was enacted at a time when our nation’s energy landscape was far different. With the current boom in domestic oil and natural gas development, we are steadily reducing our foreign energy dependence, well beyond what the RFS program has achieved. Also, the increasing use of affordable, plentiful domestic natural gas supplies has helped drive a decline in greenhouse gas emissions. The notion that we need a Renewable Fuels Standard to promote energy independence and security, as the 2007 statute is named, has been turned on its head by the tremendous growth in domestic oil and natural gas.”

API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $86 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.