WASHINGTON, March 11, 2015 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers President Charles T. Drevna issued the following statement in response to the Advanced Biofuels Association's call for Congress to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard:
"The Advanced Biofuels Association (ABFA) is correct that Congress must address the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which perpetuates uncertainty in the marketplace for refiners and biofuels producers alike. We are heartened that ABFA has recognized what AFPM has said for years; the RFS is unworkable. However, the association's proposal does nothing to improve the situation and, in many aspects, it 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 RFS 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 refiners stay in compliance with the RFS if these phantom fuels are not produced and ensures that consumers aren't forced to pay $25 a gallon or more for 'advanced' biofuel fuel, as does the Navy currently.
"AFPM 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."