The American Petroleum Institute (API) recently expressed support in the Food and Fuel Consumer Protection Act, reintroduced bill by U.S. Reps. Peter Welch (D-VT) and Bill Flores (R-TX), which calls for a cap on fuel ethanol volumes.
Labeling the existing ethanol mandate of the Renewable Fuel Standard a failure, API wants to see lower ethanol mandates and raised ethanol volumes. It is something they say will benefit the economy overall, though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues to enforce the RFS. That program has been in force since 2005 and requires renewable fuel to be blended into transportation fuel in increasing amounts each year.
“We applaud this bipartisan leadership in Congress recognizing the negative consequences that higher ethanol mandates could have on consumers, including unexpected auto repair bills and potential harm to our nation’s economy. This legislation seeks to prevent hitting the ethanol blend wall, the point at which more ethanol is blended into the nation’s fuel supply than can be absorbed as E10 gasoline,” Frank Macchiarola, API Vice President of Downstream and Industry Operations, said. “Most vehicles on the road today are not designed to use fuel blends that contain more than 10 percent ethanol.”
API has called for the EPA to reduce total ethanol renewable fuels volume requirements for 2020 to below 9.7 percent of gasoline — a significant cut to current demands.