RFS Rule Undercuts U.S. Commitment to Reducing GHGs

(25 x '25) It was with some ironic bemusement that biofuel advocates read the headlines from the mainstream media that said the Obama administration “raised’ the biofuel blending requirements under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) rule announced this week by EPA.

Of course, the final blending levels were higher than first proposed by the agency back in May. But they still fall far short of what is called for in the statute that reauthorized and strengthened the RFS back in 2007.

And given Obama’s presence in Paris this week for UN climate change talks that have drawn together representatives from nearly 200 nations, the president has missed a huge opportunity to demonstrate fully a U.S. commitment to reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and curb climate change.

Of particular concern are the reductions in requirements for conventional biofuels, which is mostly corn ethanol, from an EISA-required 15 billion gallons this year and next down to 14.05 billion gallons and 14.5 billion gallons, respectively. In a biofuels market that is only beginning to mature, the fall-offs in required ethanol are a huge setback. As has been voiced often and loudly by ethanol industry leaders, oil companies and refiners enjoy a huge competitive advantage in the marketplace with billions of dollars in federal tax subsidies and other benefits, dwarfing any help the ethanol sector has received. The RFS is virtually the only means for ethanol to access a marketplace that is almost monopolistically held by the petroleum industry.

But regardless of where the battle goes next, the reality is that the nation is missing an opportunity to accelerate the transition to cleaner, safer, more secure and lower carbon transportation fuels.

We are unsure why the president would not heed the counsel of his own national labs, which have well documented that petroleum fuels are getting dirtier while biofuels are getting cleaner.

Adding to the questions of why the White House is choosing not to meet the full blending requirements set by EIA is the fact that ethanol and biodiesel have helped reduce U.S. dependence on foreign oil in recent years, playing a large part in the drop in oil imports of nearly one-third of that brought in five years ago. Why raise the possibility of reversing that trend?

And on the public health front, biofuels are increasingly recognized as a safer and less expensive source of octane compared to aromatics in petroleum gasoline. READ MORE and MORE (Sioux City Journal) and MORE (Grand Island Independent) and MORE (The Gazette) and MORE (Hoosier Ag Today) and MORE (USDA/Growing Alabama) and MORE (Globe Gazette) and MORE (KEYC; includes VIDEO) and MORE (Farms.com; includes VIDEO) and MORE (WKKG) and MORE (MyJournalCourier) and MORE (FirstCoop.com) and MORE (RollCall) and MORE (AgriNews.com) and MORE (High Plains/Midwest Ag Journal) and MORE (The Gazette) and MORE (Fremont Tribune)