Posted on: March 21, 2013 in E15, Ethanol, Renewable Fuel Standard

In regard to your recent editorial (“Bloated biofuels,” March 20), you don’t need Bill Gates’ IQ to really understand what is going on with the so-called “ethanol blend wall” and Big Oil’s calls for repeal of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Like a child who breaks all of his pencils and then tells his parents he can’t do his homework, the oil industry has deliberately taken steps to block the use of more renewable fuels so it can claim the RFS is unachievable.

The editorial incorrectly states 10 percent (E10) is the “maximum” level of ethanol approved by regulators for use in U.S. automobiles. In fact, regulators have approved 15 percent ethanol blends for use in roughly 75 percent of vehicles. In addition, about half of the new vehicles made by American automakers today are approved to use up to 85 percent ethanol blends (E85). Clearly, automakers responded to the signals sent by the RFS program when it was enacted six years ago. Meanwhile, oil refiners sat on their hands and whistled Dixie, refusing to invest in infrastructure.

In short, the E10 “blend wall” is a fiction. There are legal and economical ways for refiners to meet their renewable fuel blending obligations. Instead, however, the oil industry continues to refuse to blend more ethanol. They would rather bid up the price of RIN credits to avoid using more ethanol, then complain to Congress that they can’t break through a wall built with bricks from their own kiln.

In the end, because ethanol remains 70 cents per gallon cheaper than gasoline, U.S. consumers are the losers in this battle for the barrel. Big Oil’s self-inflicted blend wall is denying drivers the opportunity for greater savings at the pump.

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