July 12, 2016
By Dave Hudak
It is disappointing that Indiana’s biofuels industry must once again respond to false allegations from out-of-state hired guns.
This time, Jane Van Ryan, a Washington, D.C.-area resident and former top communications official for the American Petroleum Institute, decries the inconvenience her central Indiana-based family will face because they have the choice to buy gasoline with a 10 percent ethanol blend.
The good news for Van Ryan is that here in Indiana, we know that when she makes her trip from the Washington, D.C.-area to Gatlinburg, she will save money thanks to the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), the very policy that she and her bosses are seeking to repeal.
The Renewable Fuels Standard, the so-called “mandate” that Van Ryan and the American Petroleum Institute are referring to is a bipartisan energy policy that provides market access for biofuels, which benefit our environment, economy and energy security. It sets annual targets for the blending of renewables into our nation’s fuel supply in order to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and keep our air clean.
As a result of the RFS, ethanol is now blended into 97 percent of the gasoline supply and virtually all regular gasoline sold in Indiana has a 10 percent ethanol blend. Indiana-made, high-octane ethanol is dropped into gasoline as a method to boost octane so that the petroleum does not damage engines or affect vehicle performance. In fact, because ethanol is environmentally-friendly and biodegradable, it has replaced dangerous and carcinogenic fuel additives like lead and MTBE, which have been outlawed in the United States.
The fact is that ethanol remains the cleanest and lowest-cost octane available on the market today. According to one analysis, consumers are saving between 50 cents and $1.50 per gallon as a result of increased ethanol production and the Renewable Fuels Standard.
Moreover, higher blends of ethanol have increased octane — which helps your car burn cleaner and cooler, better for your engine’s performance and the environment. E15, a 15-percent blend of ethanol, is approved for all vehicles 2001 and newer — nearly 9 out of 10 cars on the road today. NASCAR mechanics trust E15 for their vehicles on and off the track, hitting 10 million miles using the biofuel this year. And teams racing in the IndyCar series already use 100 percent ethanol fuel.
The question is this: Why would Van Ryan and the American Petroleum Institute, an organization funded by America’s largest oil companies who receive more than $7 billion in government subsidies and an additional $800 million in tax breaks annually, be calling for an end to the Renewable Fuels Standard?
“Big Oil” wants to continue their anti-competitive monopolistic actions that created a necessity for the Renewable Fuels Standard in the first place! They want Americans to be forced to buy more oil — whether it is shipped here from the Middle East or drilled, pumped or fractured from our lands or from the bottoms of our oceans.
The RFS enables competition in a marketplace dominated by the oil industry and ensures drivers have better options at the pump. And “Big Oil” is fighting in Congress — and yes, even in the editorial pages — to prevent drivers from having access to higher blends of ethanol. They know that the ultimate check against out-of-control oil prices is not increased supply that has been achieved through drilling technology, but an alternative source of fuel.
For over a decade, the RFS remains the most successful clean energy policy to strengthen our energy security, protect the environment and stimulates investment and creates jobs — including more than 25,000 jobs in Indiana alone.
Hoosiers deserve the truth, not misinformation peddled by “Big Oil” interests; The Renewable Fuels Standard is working and Congress should not mess with the RFS.
Dave Hudak is general manager of POET Biorefining Alexandria and secretary/treasurer of the Indiana Ethanol Producers Association.
Read the original story: Ethanol Standard Saves Consumers Money