By Wayne Winegarden – The average price of gas remains historically expensive around $3.60 per gallon. What you may not realize is that lawmakers in Washington could help alleviate your “pain at the pump” by simply getting out of the way.
In late July, a congressional hearing was held on government-mandated renewable fuel standards (RFS). The consensus among industry analysts and experts was that the RFS policy is driving gasoline prices higher. The RFS policy is also distorting the energy markets and imposing economic burdens on millions of Americans in ways that lawmakers never predicted.
In 2005, the government established the RFS policy, which was revised in 2007. The RFS policy requires refiners to blend a pre-determined quantity of biofuel, such as ethanol, into their petroleum-derived gasoline. The volume of required biofuels that refiners must blend increases each and every year.
In 2008, 9 billion gallons of renewable fuels were required to be blended into transportation fuels. Under the latest regulatory requirements, the RFS will require 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels to be blended into the nation’s gasoline supply by 2022.
Since the RFS standards were last revised, however, the nation’s energy landscape has changed dramatically. Billions of barrels of oil and trillions of cubic feet of natural gas reserves have been discovered in the United States while, at the same time, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions have been declining.
Back when the RFS was established, demand for gasoline in 2010 was forecast to be in the neighborhood of 160 billion gallons annually. Thanks in part to the boom in natural gas production and improvements in automobile fuel efficiency, gasoline consumption was actually only 130 billion gallons in 2010 and has remained around that level since.
Yet, despite these changes, and despite the decline in gasoline consumption, the RFS remains static, unable to meet the challenges of today.
One of those challenges is the “blend wall.” Currently, nearly all ethanol is blended with traditional fuel at the accepted safe threshold of 10 percent ethanol to 90 percent traditional fuel. Accelerating ethanol mandates coupled with falling demand for petroleum means there is simply too much ethanol. If forced to blend these excessive supplies, refiners could be forced to create fuels that exceed the 10 percent ethanol threshold.
Fuels in excess of 10 percent ethanol can damage car engines. Currently, less than 5 percent of cars on the road are designed for use with fuels containing more than 10 percent ethanol. And, most carmakers won’t warranty any vehicles aside from their latest models for use with higher concentrations.
Refiners unable to comply with the mandated ethanol volumes are required to buy credits based on the shortfall. The excessive ethanol mandates has sent the price of credits soaring, with noticeable consequences for consumers at the pump. Indeed, the cost of the credits is the equivalent of an additional tax of 10-cents per gallon.
Consumers can expect to see fuel prices rise even more in the near future if the RFS mandates are not mitigated. A study by NERA Economic Consulting predicts a 30 percent increase in the cost of gas and a 300 percent increase in the cost of diesel by 2015 — all as a result of RFS mandates.
The unintended consequences of the RFS mandate extend well beyond the pump. Some 40 percent of America’s annual corn crop is now being directed into ethanol production. Since corn is the primary ingredient in livestock feed, a rise in price means a rise in the price of other farm commodities such as meat, poultry, and dairy products.
So thanks to the RFS, Americans are paying more to get to the grocery store and paying more for the groceries.
Topping it all off, while renewable energy sources are supposed to be good for the environment, this may not be the case for biofuels. For instance, a 2008 study in Science magazine found that once the global impacts from biofuel production are considered, biofuels release twice as much carbon dioxide emissions into the air compared to conventional gasoline.
There is hope. The EPA is considering lessening the RFS mandates in 2014 because of the blending wall problem. It should. Better yet, Congress should stop mandating the impossible and repeal the renewable fuels standards policy all together.
Wayne Winegarden, PhD, is senior fellow at the Pacific Research Institute and a contributing editor to EconoSTATS at George Mason University.
repeal the RFS.(renewable fuel standards) better yet eliminate the EPA. this agency is unconstitutional.
Google the "$2.5 Trillion Oil Scam – slideshare" and Google "Goldman's, Global Oil Scam." The US is a victim of this scam. ICE rigs the oil and gasoline prices. Tesoro and Chevron are "silent partners" in ICE. To break the gasoline price-fixing, price-gouging grip of Tesoro and Chevron, plug your Tesla S, electric car into your household, solar array.
I agree that electric cars is coming along as an alternative means and Tesla is highly competitive with conventional automobiles.but I think the more successful electric cars become,the more our government will tinker with them and drag them down with unnecessary regulations,taxes,EPA mandates,etc.there will probably be created by bureaucrats things like standards that the industry will be forced to comply.and as long as the electric car and solar industry remains subsidized,it will be under the influence of special interest groups who are politically connected. (just like some oil corporations are subsidized) I hope the free market prevails and both industries flourish and prosper.
The volume of required biofuels that refiners must blend increases each and every year.
I hope this is a great news for everybody!
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