A diversity of consumer groups, environmental organizations, food producers and engine manufacturers joined AFPM in voicing their opposition to the unsustainable ethanol mandates released by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for 2019. In November, the EPA announced that it will be increasing 2019 ethanol mandates under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). While the announcement of the Renewable Volume Obligations (RVOs) pleased corn growers and biofuel producers, it comes at the expense of American consumers and a free market for fuel. Read why they’re urging Congress to step in and reform the RFS:
Chet Thompson, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers
“This merely marks another year of more of the same increases in the mandate that are completely detached from reality. But, after more than of a decade of this bad policy, we now look forward to working with the EPA to reset these unrealistic volumes to better align with domestic production and market demand. Even still, there is only so much the EPA can do to make the unworkable workable, so we continue to call on Congress to step in and fix this broken program once and for all.”
Thom Dammrich, National Marine Manufacturers Association
“Friday’s announcement by the EPA reinforces what we already knew: Consumers are an afterthought under the current RFS. The Trump Administration’s 2019 RVO levels put Americans at risk and pump billions of gallons of ethanol into the U.S.fuel supply, compounding previous bad policy decisions – most notably, the recent proposal to expand the sale of E15 year-round.”
Laura Abshire, National Restaurant Association
“We are again disappointed by the EPA’s 2019 renewable volume obligations (RVO) and the decision to allow a policy shown to be harmful to businesses, the environment, and consumers to continue. Today’s announcement shows that the Renewable Fuel Standard is broken and is failing to achieve its goals. Corn ethanol continues to cause volatility in our nation’s food supply chain and it’s time for the EPA and Congress to fix the broken RFS. We look forward to working with EPA and Congress in this process to fix the RFS once and for all.”
Jonathan Lewis, Clean Air Task Force
“Nearly 11 years have passed since the RFS was expanded, but food-based biofuels such as corn ethanol and soy biodiesel still dominate the program … First-generation biofuels have proven to be a bridge to nowhere, crowding better biofuels out of the market. Congress must step in to fix this broken policy.”
Wayne Allard, American Motorcyclist Association
“By forcing more ethanol into our fuel supply, year after year, the EPA is increasing the risk for motorcycle owners, all-terrain vehicle riders and others whose vehicles are not equipped to use fuels containing more than 10 percent ethanol. Higher ethanol mandates, coupled with proposals to sell E15 fuel year-round, will begin to push ethanol-free and E10 fuel out of the marketplace, much in the way E10 has marginalized E0, the fuel required for older and vintage machines.”
David French, National Council of Chain Restaurants
“Corn ethanol is flatly bad for the environment and consumers alike, and it’s high time for the mandate to go away. It’s puzzling that the EPA is going all in on the RFS mandate at a time when it’s so obviously out of sync with market realities. The EPA clearly caved to pressure from the ethanol industry once again.”
Mike Brown, National Chicken Council
“EPA has neglected to consider the impact of the RFS on livestock and poultry producers. The RFS is long overdue for reform. NCC strongly supports efforts to create a more reasonable and sustainable approach to the nation’s biofuel policy, including a predictable, transparent off-ramp as Congress originally intended”
David DeGennaro, National Wildlife Federation
“Today’s action exemplifies the Trump Administration’s strategy of ignoring science in pursuit of its flawed policy goals. The EPA has the opportunity in the next year to completely re-write the biofuel mandate and finally set this policy on a sustainable path.”
