Exclusive Report: The Federal Biofuel Mandate ‘Has Failed To Achieve Its Policy Goals’

by Michael Bastasch (The Daily Caller) The federal biofuel mandate “has failed to achieve its policy goals while imposing significant other costs on consumers,” according to a new report.

Americans paid out nearly $77 billion in additional fuel costs over the last 10 years due to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) created under the Bush administration, Right-leaning American Action Forum found.

“After more than a decade, research indicates that the RFS has failed to achieve its policy goals and imposed burdens on the economy,” reads AAF’s energy director Philip Rossetti ‘s report shared with The Daily Caller News Foundation.

“If biofuel was economical, refineries would use it even without a government mandate,” Rossetti wrote.

EPA began issuing waivers after Philadelphia Energy Solutions, the largest East Coast refiner, filed for bankruptcy, blaming the RFS. The biofuels industry pushed back against claims the RFS helped bankrupt the refiner.

“Blaming the RFS is a better story than admitting strategic mistakes related to crude oil markets, but it’s a smokescreen,” Advanced Biofuels Business Council’s R. Brooke Coleman said in a statement on the bankruptcy.

The Trump administration has been working with both sides of the RFS on a compromise. Not all the details are clear, but Trump would approve the use of E-15 fuel year-round — that’s gasoline with a 15 percent ethanol blend, the president told reporters on April 12.

However, it’s only the latest battle in the political war over the RFS. Environmentalists, anti-hunger groups, livestock farmers, vehicle manufacturers and more oppose the RFS as it currently stands.

But probably the biggest knock against the RFS is the program has done little to enhance U.S. energy security, according to Rossetti. Booming shale oil production has cut the lion’s share of foreign imports, not ethanol. READ MORE