Fact Check: The R Street Institute Blows It Again

Agriculture (USDA)BioRefineries/Renewable Fuel Production Business News/Analysis Energy (DOE)Environmental Protection Agency Federal Agency/Executive Branch Federal Legislation Federal Regulation Feedstocks Field/Orchard/Plantation Crops/Residues Marketing/Market Forces and Sales Middle East Opinions Policy Sustainability Treasury Department What You Can Do

June 12, 2026

Print This Article Share it With Friends

(Renewable Fuels Association) Earlier today (June 12, 2026), the R Street Institute—a self-described “think tank whose work is grounded in liberty and freedom”—published an opinion piece (heavy emphasis on “opinion”) on ethanol policy. It’s a real doozy, chock full of myths and misinformation and the same old lies that have been pushed by the anti-ethanol crowd for decades. Typically, we’d ignore this sort of fear-mongering pablum, but given the increased focus on ethanol and E15 these days, RFA felt it was necessary to pull out the red pen and do some good, old-fashioned fact-checking on the R Street Institute. For an entity that claims to support “free markets and limited, effective government,” they sure seem threatened by the competition, consumer choice, and economic freedom that deregulatory action allowing year-round, nationwide access to E15 would provide.

R Street Institute Claim

RFA Red Pen

E15’s lower price is “something of an illusion”? What? R Street Institute is telling consumers not to believe their own eyes. E15 costs less at the pump than regular E10 gasoline. Period. That isn’t a “claim,” it’s a fact. In recent months, the savings have averaged 20-40 cents per gallon—sometimes even more! Today, E15 is priced 7-10% below regular E10 on average.

E15 is just 1.7% less energy dense than regular gasoline, and lab testing of 20 vehicles shows the average fuel economy difference (miles per gallon) was just 1% when using E15 instead of E10. But what really matters is the cost per mile travelled. E15’s lower cost at the pump overwhelms the negligible reduction in fuel economy, meaning drivers spend less money to travel the same distance.

And do you really need to “fill up more often” with E15? NO. The difference in fuel economy is so small that in the worst-case scenario, a typical American household might need to make just one extra trip to the gas station during the course of a whole year!

R Street Institute Claim

RFA Red Pen

Actually, the RFS requires fuel refiners and importers to blend 26.8 billion gallons of renewable fuel into gasoline and diesel this year. That’s a good thing. And guess what? There is NO requirement that any amount of that renewable fuel—15 billion gallons or otherwise—must come from corn ethanol! Refiners and importers choose to use ethanol to meet RFS requirements because it is the lowest-cost option and helps them meet octane standards and fuel quality requirements.

What’s more. the Clean Fuel Production Credit (otherwise known as “45Z”) is NOT an “ethanol subsidy.” The tax incentive is available to ANY producer of ANY fuel that meets certain criteria related to the carbon intensity of the fuel they produce.

R Street Institute Claim

RFA Red Pen

Wow! Really?! Do your research! E15 has LOWER vapor pressure than standard E10 gasoline. And according to experts at UC Riverside, DOE, and other institutions, E15 has LOWER smog-forming potential. The problem is: a 35-year-old regulation holds E15 to a more restrictive vapor pressure limit than regular gasoline (because that regulation was developed decades before E15 was even a consideration). The legislation making its way through Congress now would simply apply the SAME vapor pressure limit to all grades of gasoline. We thought R Street Institute supported deregulation, removing red tape, and giving consumers a choice…guess not!

R Street Institute Claim

RFA Red Pen

Here it is…the old “food versus fuel” myth. Shocking! Ethanol is NOT made from food. Have you ever tried to eat the corn that is used to make ethanol!? Hope you have a good dental plan! Ethanol is made from field corn—the type that is used for livestock feed—NOT sweet corn or the food-grade white and yellow corn grown for tortilla chips and taco shells.

Corn is not being “diverted” away from other uses, like livestock feed. The fact is, farmers are growing more than enough corn to meet all demands on the same amount of land—or less—than in the past. And ethanol plants only use the starch portion of the corn kernel. The protein and much of the fat, fiber, and other nutrients are returned to the feed market in the form of “distillers grains”—a lower-cost, higher-nutrition animal feed product.

And in case you hadn’t noticed, corn prices are DOWN. Even with record ethanol production last year, corn prices averaged just $4.15 per bushel. That’s $2.39 lower (37%) than the average corn price in 2022/23 and well below the 15-year average price. And since everyone is talking about inflation these days, the inflation-adjusted price of corn is at its lowest point since 1910, according to USDA.

“International unrest”?! Hardly. The truth is countries around the world (from India to Japan and Canada to Colombia) are adopting policies to greatly increase their use of lower-cost, lower-carbon ethanol—for the very same reasons we are expanding renewable fuels in the U.S.

R Street Institute Claim

RFA Red Pen

The proof is in the pudding. The RFS has undeniably lived up to—and even surpassed—its original policy objectives. Increased renewable fuel use under the RFS has reduced emissions, lowered gas prices, and substantially reduced the need for crude oil and petroleum product imports.

Experts from the DOE, Treasury Department, USDA, and leading universities (including Harvard, MIT, Purdue, University of Illinois, and others) have all confirmed that ethanol meaningfully reduces GHG emissions compared to petroleum. Others (like UC Riverside and the University of Minnesota/Hormel Institute) have demonstrated that higher ethanol blends like E15 reduce tailpipe emissions of pollutants that lead to smog formation and human health problems like cancer.

To promote electricity as the “silver bullet” solution for transportation is not just tone deaf, but utterly dishonest (experts are expressing growing concern about surging electricity prices, “America’s power shortage,” and a “reliability crisis” in electricity markets, while consumers are expressing “electricity rage.”)

And to suggest Americans are no longer concerned about “American dependence on foreign oil” shows that R Street is completely untethered from reality. Take a look around! War in the Middle East and oil shipping disruptions in the Strait of Hormuz have created a global energy crisis, near-record high pump prices, and the lowest U.S. seasonal petroleum stocks in 30 years, while draining the strategic petroleum reserve to its lowest level since 1983!

Pull your head out of the sand. Now—more than ever—we need more diverse, more secure domestic energy sources. We need more ethanol! READ MORE

Related articles

Why can’t E15 be sold in the summertime? EPA regulations hold E15 to more restrictive volatile emissions limits than regular gasoline (E10)… even though E15 has lower emissions! (Renewable Fuels Association)
Corn sinks to contract lows as USDA signals ample supplies (Farm Progress)
One solution won’t solve America’s energy challenges (Farm Progress/Farm Futures)

Excerpt from Renewable Fuels Association: Why can’t E15 be sold in the summertime? EPA regulations hold E15 to more restrictive volatile emissions limits than regular gasoline (E10)… even though E15 has lower emissions

Excerpt from Farm Progress/Farm Futures: You’d think everyone in farm country would be for E15, the 15% blended ethanol fuel that helps boost corn demand. Believe it or not, you’d be wrong.

While the U.S. EPA recently issued temporary emergency waivers to allow nationwide E15 sales through the 2026 summer driving season, a permanent legislative fix remains stalled in the U.S. Senate, despite the U.S. House of Representatives passing a bipartisan bill to legalize the fuel blend year-round.

I asked a fellow closer to the debate in Washington, D.C., about the arguments against E15. As expected, food vs. fuel came up. Another answer surprised me even more: If we’re going to all electric, why do we need to dedicate any more resources or build additional infrastructure to support ethanol? Or any alternative fuel, for that matter?

Needed: More energy sources

Well, I don’t think “all electric” should be a goal for our country. Instead, let’s create a deep bench of farmer-grown fuel sources, everything from pasture-based solar panels to biodiesel to sustainable aviation fuel. Here are a few things to consider:

First, the idea of our lives and the industries that support them being fueled by one source of anything is unlikely in not only our lifetime, but also the next generation or two. Like it or not, the coming new world of artificial intelligence requires more power than ever. The U.S. energy grid must be updated by expanding long-distance transmission lines, integrating advanced digital software for real-time demand management, and adding massive battery storage capacity to safely handle the influx of intermittent renewable energy and surging electricity demands.

Anybody committed to an all-electric world should also think about air travel. Aviation leaders don’t expect to see a battery that’s both lightweight and strong enough to fuel planes anytime soon. It is possible. After all, we went from computers the size of a large room to ones that fit in our back pockets. But a battery that light and strong lives in a far-off someday. In the meantime, however, we need to support sustainable aviation fuel.

Second, some people oppose any type of alternative fuel. They’re definitely not plugged into an electric world. But they likely paid attention to Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz this spring, which resulted in the largest oil supply disruption in history, with cumulative losses from Gulf producers exceeding 1.3 billion barrels. So today, even those with the greatest loyalty to fossil fuels might be rethinking their position.

In my corner of the country, we’re prone to hurricanes. Core readers of this magazine live in areas prone to winter storms and tornadoes. What happens when the electricity goes out? What happens when the electricity goes out for days or even weeks because the infrastructure is damaged?

Yeah. We’re going to need a backup plan.

By developing multiple energy options, we can figure out which fuel is most practical in each area of our country.

The final point may be the most important. Alternative fuels have been a proven winner for rural communities. Just look at communities adjacent to ethanol plants. They’re thriving. We can do the same with sustainable aviation fuel and biodiesel manufacturing.

Rural communities benefit from increasing revenue streams related to crop production. Those economic opportunities benefit farmers, rural residents and our communities. Jobs increase. Schools thrive. And churches proliferate.

Embracing a wide variety of approaches is essential for reliable energy and our national security. Much like how the diverse practices of different farms create a healthier, more resilient ecosystem, so too can fuel choice give us the energy independence our country needs. READ MORE

Tags

What You Can Do waiver Treasury Department Transportation Fuels Policy tax policy tax incentives Sustainability Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS and RFS2) Reid vapor pressure (RVP) Regulations-Federal one pound waiver mileage Middle East market forces Legislation-Federal fuel economy food vs fuel food prices ethanol/bioethanol EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) environmental policy energy security energy independence energy density electricity price electricity Electric Car/Electric Vehicle (EV) E15 price E15 Department of Energy (DOE) Department of Agriculture (USDA) corn/maize corn prices corn ethanol Clean Air Act (CAA) BioRefineries/Renewable Fuel Production Battery Electric Vehicles (BEV) 45Z Clean Fuel Production Tax Credit

Comments are closed.