Anti-Ethanol Advocates Head To The Hill

  • Tuesday, 21 July 2015 00:00

With under a week left for the EPA’s public comment period for its 2014, 2015 & 2016 RFS targets, some anti-ethanol advocates are heading to Washington D.C. to testify against the RFS.

These anti-ethanol advocates will be testifying in front of the House Science Subcommittee on Energy and the Subcommittee on Oversight on Thursday (July 23).

The Oversight Subcommittee is chaired by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (R-Ga.) who in June wanted to introduce an amendment that would limit funding of program implementation, administration and enforcement of the RFS (he eventually decided against it).

As of now, four individuals have been named as witnesses for the hearing and they include two anti-ethanol advocates – Jason Hill from the University of Minnesota and Wally Tyner from Purdue University.

Hill, if you recall, has been the author of several “studies” that claim ethanol is more harmful to the environment than gasoline. His last piece, published in December, was heavily debunked by real-world facts. You can read it here

Not that it matters to Hill. His theories have been consistently debunked by actual science but that hasn’t stopped him from making his false claims.

Tyner, on the other hand, has long been a proponent of the oil industry’s fictional “blend wall.” 

The other two witnesses set to appear at the hearing are Matt Smorch for CountryMark (an oil company that sells both E85 and E0 gasoline) and Tim Reid of Mercury Marine (a manufacturer which has approved the use of E10 in its marine engines).

The fact that both Hill and Tyner are heading to testify about the RFS in front of a known anti-RFS legislator like Loundermilk makes one wonder the purpose of the hearing. Is Loudermilk drafting a new anti-RFS amendment? Or is he trying to drum up support for the anti-ethanol crowd days before the EPA’s public comment period for the 2014, 2015 & 2016 RFS ends?

But while this “show” takes place in D.C., there’s still time for the rest of us who believe in clean homemade renewable energy to show our support for the RFS by sending the EPA a message here.