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In November, 2013, EPA announced a highly contentious proposal that lowered the 2014 Renewable Fuel Standard targets below their 2013 levels. These targets apply to the amount of renewable fuels that are blended into the nation’s gasoline supply. A year later, EPA abandoned the proposal after significant push back from the renewable fuel industry, agreeing to reconsider the 2014 targets. EPA has yet to reissue the proposal. The American Petroleum Institute (API) and the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) filed a lawsuit over the delay, contending that they are left guessing how much ethanol they were required to use last… [more]
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Visiting Fellow
Hudson Institute
A number of scholars, from the left and the right have floated versions of a carbon tax. Henry Paulson has also weighed in, favoring a tax. In theory, a uniform comprehensive carbon tax enforced among all major global emitters might have great advantages. Such a tax, if linked to a stringent accounting system, could be more transparent than any other approach to greenhouse gas control. In contrast to command-and-control schemes, a tax would target abatement resources to where they would be most cost-effective. A tax, unlike the 2009 cap-and-trade bill, would make it harder for proponents to falsely promise both… [more]
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Managing Director, Industrial & Environmental Section
Biotechnology Industry Organization
A recent editorial in the Wall Street Journal, co-signed by Rep. Patrick Meehan (R-Pa.), argues that growing renewable fuel obligations under the federal Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) have come into direct conflict with declining U.S. demand for transportation fuel. The editorial asserts that current fuel distribution infrastructure and automobile engine guidelines limit the amount of ethanol that can be blended into gasoline to 10 percent, creating a “blend wall” beyond which further blending of ethanol becomes economically unreasonable. Meanwhile, in response to high fuel prices, consumers have radically curbed their driving habits and sought out new cars that meet more… [more]
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The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which was recently amended to address numerous criticisms, is again under fire, this time for its potential effect on food prices. The RFS program requires an increasing volume of renewable fuel to be blended into transportation fuel each year and since its implementation in 2005, the US has become the world’s largest producer of ethanol fuel, a corn-based renewable fuel. Yet many RFS critics argue that the mandate is responsible for driving up food prices. The authors of this UC Davis study concluded that “Corn prices were about 30 percent greater between 2006 and 2011… [more]
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The U.S. EPA finalized amendments to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program that include new renewable fuel production pathways for renewable diesel, renewable naphtha, and renewable electricity (used in electric vehicles) from landfill biogas. According to the EPA, “Adding these new pathways will enhance the ability of the biofuels industry to supply advanced biofuels, including cellulosic biofuels, which greatly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) compared to the petroleum-based fuels they replace.” However, these changes don’t address some of the fundamental problems associated with the RFS, according to critics. For example, NACS, the international trade association that serves the convenience… [more]
View InsightThe Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 includes a renewable fuels standard requiring fuel refiners to blend an increasing amount of advanced biofuels into their gasoline and diesel fuel stocks. In 2011, the Act mandated the blending of 6.6 million gallons of cellulosic biofuels. However, sufficient cellulosic fuels were not available to refiners for purchase and use. Refiners are now being fined for failing to meet the quota. [New York Times] The Times characterized this situation as an example of “what happens when the federal government really, really wants something that technology is not ready to provide.” Through loan… [more]
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