RFS: right move, wrong fixes

AFPM President Charles T. Drevna issued the following statement in response to the Advanced Biofuels Association’s (ABFA) call for Congress to reform the RFS:

“The ABFA is correct that Congress must address the RFS, which perpetuates uncertainty in the marketplace for refiners and biofuels produces alike. We are heartened that ABFA has recognised what AFOM has said for years; the RFS is unworkable. However, the association’s proposal does nothing to improve the situation and, in many aspects, is simply adds to further uncertainty, unnecessary costs, and market distortion. While ABFA’s position would force the oil industry to finance the cellulosic biofuel industry’s future, consumers will also bear the cost by paying for more expensive fuel.

“Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) were never meant to provide subsidies from one industry to another, but are a mechanism to ensure that obligated parties are able to stay in compliance with the law. Despite ABFA’s claim, the RDS does not end in 2022, it goes on in perpetuity. At a bare minimum, any reform must include a hard sunset date at which time cellulosic fuels must be able to compete in the market.

“The so called loop hole is in reality one of the few, and certainly the strongest, consumer protection provisions in this broken law. The cellulosic waiver credit assures that refineries stay in compliance with the RFS if these phantom fuels are not produced and ensures that consumers aren’t forced to pay US$25 a gallon or more for advanced biofuel fuel, as does the Navy currently.

“AFM joins ABFA in asking that Congress provide a legislative remedy, but believes that the association’s proposal merely adds to the problem rather than fixing it.”

Edited from press release by Claira Lloyd

Read the article online at: https://www.hydrocarbonengineering.com/clean-fuels/12032015/rfs-moves-and-fixes/