Posted on: September 19, 2013 in Environment, Oil, Production, Renewable Fuel Standard

On September 17, the American Petroleum Institute (API) released a brochure entitled “The RFS Reality Gap.” Through a series of charts, the API brochure unconvincingly attempts to make a case for repeal of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). API rehashes disproven myths, uses manipulated charts and data, and omits key facts to suggest that the RFS is no longer necessary. In what has become a familiar refrain, API says the RFS should be repealed because of the so-called “blend wall,” falling gasoline demand, the recent boom in fracking, and slower-than-expected progress on cellulosic biofuels.

It’s time for a reality check. As the centerpiece of the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA) of 2007, the expanded RFS has been the nation’s most successful energy policy of the modern era. The program has reduced imports of petroleum products, lowered gas prices, enhanced farm income, and decreased emissions of greenhouse gases and tailpipe pollutants. The RFS has enabled ethanol to capture 10% of the gasoline pool—and that’s exactly why API wants to put a stop to the program. They fear, if given the chance, ethanol and other biofuels will continue to win favor with consumers and take more of Big Oil’s market share.

This reality check on API’s “RFS Reality Gap” report offers rebuttals to API’s far-fetched arguments, tells the “rest of the story” that was conveniently omitted from the report’s misleading charts, and underscores the importance of staying the course with the RFS.

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