The editorial “Ethanol credit kills jobs,” April 6, echoed tired and disproven claims by oil refiners dead set on holding back more affordable options at the pump.
The truth is that the Renewable Fuel Standard has been a boon to Ohio jobs, Ohio farmers, and Ohio motorists.
As part of their lobbying push, refiners like PBF Energy Toledo Refining Co. claim that the RFS imposes unfair costs, in the form of flexible, tradable credits, Renewable Identification Numbers, or RINs, used for compliance — at least among a dwindling number of refiners that decline to invest in biofuels and capture free credits.
But even other oil industry representatives have agreed with the Environmental Protection Agency that the price of credits is not absorbed by refiners. In effect, refiners publicly label credits as a cost, while privately collecting revenues on those same credits with the sale of outgoing products.
We’re grateful to Ohio leaders who have consistently seen through the smoke screen and supported the biofuel industry.
That’s one reason, last summer, ethanol blends like E15 saved Ohio drivers an average of 21 cents per gallon, based on data from the Ohio Price Information Service and reviewed by ABF Economics.
It’s also why the biofuel sector supports thousands of Ohio jobs, especially in rural communities.
In a global market where Russia and OPEC continue to manipulate the cost of oil, policymakers should be looking to expand — not limit — access to American biofuels that can help keep fuel prices in check and ease supply constraints.
The op-ed “To the editor: Ethanol standard a boon to Ohio” first appeared in the Toledo Blade.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has issued an emergency fuel waiver to allow E15 gasoline — gasoline blended with 15% ethanol — to be sold during the summer driving season — a move that was cheered by ag and renewable energy groups. The EPA in a statement said the action is motivated at […]