Even though in recent years the supply of domestic petroleum has increased, the volatile price of gasoline is out of our control and seems to climb every day. Right now gas prices are too high, especially for hard-working American families and small businesses; and it’s not getting better even as we drill for more domestic oil. Oil is a globally traded commodity and will remain to be priced on the global market, forever. So even as petroleum supplies increases, the RFS is still a much needed policy to alleviate Americans from high fuel costs.
Every day in most parts of this country, Americans have no choice but to buy petroleum-based gasoline. But due in large part to the RFS, the situation has the possibility to get a lot better for all Americans. Currently, 10 percent of our fuel supply comes from ethanol, which saves consumers money at the pump. Right now, national gas prices are at $3.70 a gallon and rising. If we didn’t have the RFS and 10 percent of our fuel didn’t come from ethanol, a gallon of gas would instead hover around $4.00 a gallon. Also, because of increased ethanol production, many drivers in the Midwest are using blends of fuel like E30 – an American- ethanol blended fuel – for about $3.50 a gallon! That, combined with the increased deployment of flex fuel vehicles (FFVs), has provided some much-needed relief at the pump.
Right now, efforts to besmirch and derail the growth of renewable fuels are at full throttle. Myth-based campaigns stating, “Ethanol damages cars and increases food prices,“ abound on the airways. But most American citizens understand that gas prices are high and will remain high because of petroleum, not ethanol. In fact, recent polling shows that 73 percent of Americans support the RFS. So despite the ads claiming that ethanol is driving up gas prices and in turn food prices, Americans understand there is no correlation between increased food prices and increased ethanol production. Instead they see what numerous studies have shown, that there is a direct correlation between increasing gas prices and increasing prices for milk or bread at the grocery store.
The RFS is achieving the primary goal it was enacted to achieve– reducing the need for petroleum by billions of gallons of per year while decreasing air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions by millions of metric tons. And as a result of the increased ethanol production triggered by the RFS, America is benefiting from tens of billions of dollars in economic development in our country’s heartland. The ethanol industry alone supports over 400,000 jobs nationwide and this number will likely double by 2022 if the RFS remains intact.
Imagine if in twenty years our dependence on petroleum is cut in half and our use of renewable fuels and other types of sustainable transportation fuels increases exponentially—what increased benefits Americans will reap. With the RFS in place, this type of future is realistic. Without it, we’ll be paying more every day at the pump for a lack of understanding of the RFS, a bi-partisan created, winning policy for American growth and security.
Foley is the vice president of Policy and Government Relations at the American Council On Renewable Energy (ACORE).