TPA Joins Coalition Urging Congressional Action on Renewable Fuel Standard

Energy is an important issue to taxpayers and there is a great deal of cronyism going around and Taxpayers Protection Alliance has been a vocal critic of not just the corporate welfare to solar that has distorted the free market, but also the continued problems with renewable fuel reform and the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The RFS is a “command and control mechanism that requires a certain level of ethanol to be blended into the nation’s transportation fuel supply.” The requirement for gasoline is 10 percent but the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is planning to increase the amount of ethanol blended into gasoline after a lengthy delay on a final decision. The RFS began in 2005 and it has been flawed policy all along, any directive by the EPA to expand it will only make a bad policy worse. Not only do businesses and consumers get hit, taxpayers are also directly impacted as the government’s fleet of more than 600,000 owned or leased vehicles that guzzle more of the expensive fuel. TPA opposes the RFS and has been pushing for full repeal and just last week joined in an effort led by National Retail Federation, sending a letter to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce urging Congress to act.

Read the full letter below:

March 24, 2015

Dear Chairman Upton and Ranking Member Pallone:

We write to you about the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), which is increasingly recognized as a failed policy in need of attention by the Congress. With the exception of the corn and ethanol industries, which continue to benefit from the RFS mandate, nearly everyone else suffers under this unfair and destructive policy. We ask that the Committee consider and mark-up legislation to address the RFS as soon as possible.

Although enacted with the best of intentions in 2005 when our nation faced very different circumstances from today, the RFS has created perverse incentives to overplant corn, distort food commodity markets and wreak economic and environmental havoc.

We thank you for the Committee’s serious and thoughtful bipartisan effort in the last Congress to review the RFS and consider possible reforms in light of the many unintended consequences that have resulted from the mandate since its inception. The effort included a series of white papers to gather stakeholder input on the various impacts of the RFS, as well as two hearings to receive testimony from the agencies involved in administering the policy and everyday Americans who have been affected. That process was very constructive and laid a foundation for significant changes to the policy.

Since that time the chorus of voices calling for RFS reforms has grown and the case against the policy has become even more convincing. We encourage you to exercise the Committee’s jurisdiction over the RFS and, in due course, mark-up legislation to fix this broken statute. The RFS is now in its 10th year – let us not allow this policy failure to continue to fester when its flaws are so plain to see.

Only Congress can solve the problems created by the RFS. Our organizations are committed to working with you on a bipartisan legislative solution to achieve this goal.

Thank you,

ActionAid USA
American Bakers Association
American Beverage Association
American Frozen Food Institute
American Sportfishing Association
Associated Builders and Contractors – Florida
Association of Kentucky Fried Chicken Franchisees
California Dairy Campaign
Center for Coastal Conservation
Clean Air Task Force
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Council for Citizens Against Government Waste
Dairy Producers of New Mexico
Dairy Producers of Utah
Environmental Working Group
Florida Cattlemen’s Association
Florida Concrete and Products Association
Florida State Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Florida Petroleum Marketers and Convenience Store Association
Franchise Management Advisory Council
FreedomWorks
Friends of the Earth
Idaho Dairymen’s Association
International Dairy Foods Association
International Foodservice Distributors Association
International Pizza Hut Franchise Holder’s Association
Marine Retailers Association of the Americas
Milk Producers Council
National Association of Egg Farmers
National Chicken Council
National Council of Chain Restaurants
National Franchisee Association
National Frozen Pizza Institute
National Grocers Association
National Marine Manufacturers Association
National Restaurant Association
National Taxpayers Union
National Turkey Federation
Nevada State Dairy Commission
North American Meat Institute
Northwest Dairy Association/Darigold
Oregon Dairy Farmers Association
Oxfam America
Pennsylvania Food Merchants Association
R Street Institute
Snack Food Association
South East Dairy Farmers Association
Southeast Milk, Inc.
Southeastern Meat Association
Specialty Equipment Market Association
Taxpayers for Common Sense
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Washington State Dairy Federation
Western United Dairymen