Refiners' Group: Repeal Renewable Fuels Standard
Charles T. Drevna, president of the National Petrochemical & Refiners Association, testified May 6 before the House Subcommittee on Energy and Air Quality sharing concerns with the state of the national biofuels mandate and calling attention to the numerous negative impacts associated with it.
"[T]wenty years ago this week, NPRA testified at a hearing of three House subcommittees titled 'The Role of Ethanol in the 1990s.' In that testimony, NPRA cautioned that 'broad national mandates of ethanol use represent poor public policy. Such mandates will impose significant costs on consumers and the nation.' … Twenty years later the concerns about ethanol mandates remain. Today we are faced with a massive biofuels mandate that is unsustainable, untenable, and unworkable for all of the reasons pointed out 20 years ago, and then some," Drevna said.
"Now, here in the United States, more and more members of Congress from both sides of the aisle and across the nation are beginning to speak out against the new biofuels mandate, citing rising food costs and 'unintended consequences.' And the governors of the States of Texas and Connecticut have already requested waivers from the RFS, with more likely soon to follow.
"Last December, despite warnings from scientists, economists, environmentalists, food producers, and others, Congress passed the new Renewable Fuels Standard. We, along with many others from a broad range of interests, hope that Congress is now willing to heed these warnings and repeal a well-intentioned but clearly misguided policy," Drevna said.