March 6, 2014
As America marks the 102nd anniversary of tax breaks for oil companies this week, the Fuels America coalition is launching the “Clean, Secure American Energy” campaign, an effort that will highlight the success of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The “Clean, Secure, American Energy” campaign will culminate in the tenth anniversary of the RFS in August.
Oil company tax breaks were first signed into law by President Woodrow Wilson as part of the very first income tax code, which took effect on March 1, 1913. In contrast, tax credits for ethanol expired several years ago, and the Renewable Fuel Standard has existed for just 10 years. In those 10 years, however, the commonsense, bipartisan RFS has tripled America’s biofuel production and helped lower our oil dependence to the lowest level in decades, while delivering significant environmental and public health benefits.
The RFS has played an important role in advancing American energy independence and national security as part of an “all of the above” energy strategy. And because Renewable Fuel is produced right here in the United States, the industry supports 852,000 American jobs.
Last week, renewable fuel champions highlighted the environmental benefits of the RFS with the release of a letter to President Obama, urging him to ensure the EPA’s new multiyear rule for the RFS supports growth for existing and new biofuels technologies and lives up to the original intent of the bipartisan law.
“The RFS is working and has resulted in significant environmental gains,” the letter said. The RFS is America's only fully implemented policy that reduces greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants.”