The RFS: It’s Not Broke, Don’t Fix It
by Bob Dinneen (Renewable Fuels Association/Ethanol Producer Magazine) This summer’s drought in the farm belt raised real fears about food supplies and prices. But some in the livestock, poultry and meat processing industries are using this summer’s problems to further their campaign against the renewable fuel standard (RFS). Many of these groups have suggested that major modifications in the RFS are needed to ensure that grain is available for the animal feed market. Some have even proposed repealing the RFS entirely.
In fact, the RFS is one of the most successful energy policies ever enacted in the United States. The standard has encouraged the growth of the American biofuels industry, generating jobs, reviving rural economies, reducing oil imports, lowering gasoline prices and preserving the natural environment. Moreover, the RFS has sufficient flexibility to adjust to extreme circumstances, such as this summer’s drought, without waiving or modifying the standard.
…With the turmoil in the Middle East, it is more important than ever that, because the U.S. produced 13.9 billion gallons of ethanol last year, we used 485 million fewer barrels of imported oil. That is roughly equivalent to 13 percent of total U.S. crude oil imports, saving the American economy $49.7 billion. Without the RFS—and without ethanol production—the U.S. would have imported 52 percent of its oil last year. With the RFS—and with oil imports at 45 percent, their lowest level since 1996—the U.S. is less dependent on unstable or unfriendly regimes. READ MORE and MORE (Biotechnology Industry Organization) and MORE (Daily Camera) and MORE (Detroit News) and MORE (DomesticFuel.com) and MORE (The Hill E2Wire) and MORE (Ethanol Producer Magazine) and MORE (Environmental and Energy Study Institute) and MORE (Renewable Fuels Association) and MORE (Ethanol Producer Magazine)
