All Big Oil's Men

  • Wednesday, 11 May 2016 15:41

You may have heard by now that there is a new piece of anti-RFS legislation in Congress that has an air of familiarity to it. Well, it feels familiar because the authors of said bill are vehemently anti-RFS and have pulled these stunts before. 

In fact, they've done this with such frequency that one wonders if it's part of their routine each legislative session. Or is it some annual ritual to appease Big Oil?

It's no secret that Representatives Bob Goodlatte (R- Va.), Jim Costa (D- Calif.), Peter Welch (D- Vt.) and Bill Flores (R- Tx.) are fanatically anti-corn ethanol. But the frequency and regularity of their anti-RFS proposals almost suggests as if they are acting in accordance with Big Oil's wishes. 

After all, there is reason to believe that these four Congressmen have been more representative of Big Oil's interests than their constituents.

Consider the fact that this year's anti-RFS legislation comes after attempts by them to remove corn ethanol from the RFS (they had proposed the exact same thing in 2013) and stop the USDA from funding the Biofuels Infrastructure Program in 2015. 

Then there was that anti-RFS letter to the EPA last year which was circulated by Flores and signed by his colleagues including Welch and Goodlatte. Turns out the letter was authored by the oil industry.  

In fact, when one looks at the new bill proposed by these four congressmen, it's straight out of Big Oil's playbook (you can read their drivel here). In fact, the language is so similar, one wonders who actually authored this bill?