API: RFS No Longer Feasible

STREATOR, Ill. (DTN) -- In response to questions asked by the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee about the Renewable Fuel Standard ahead of planned hearings over the summer, the American Petroleum Institute -- an oil and gas industry trade association -- said Friday (5/24) the RFS is no longer feasible.

"There is insufficient supply of domestic advanced biofuels, including cellulosic biofuel, and the approaching blend wall could result in severe fuel supply disruptions in the U.S.," wrote Bob Greco, group director downstream and industry operations for API, in response.

The House committee, chaired by Congressman Fred Upton, R-Mich., will conduct hearings this summer to examine the RFS, a law mandating blending of renewable fuel into petroleum-based fuels. No date has been set for the hearings.

The RFS, part of the Clean Air Act, was first introduced in 2005 and amended in 2007. It mandates volumes of renewable fuel be blended into petroleum-based fuels which ratchets up each year through 2022. The total volume mandate for 2013 is 16.55 billion gallons of which 13.8 billion gallons is to come from starch-based ethanol, primarily made from corn. That amount would increases to 15 billion gallons by 2015, while the overall RFS climbs to 32 billion gallons in 2022.

Ahead of the hearings the committee is publishing five white papers and seeking industry input on the federal mandate.

The first paper discussed the ethanol blend wall, a reference to the 10% maximum legal limit of ethanol allowed in all vehicles on today's roads, while the mandate calls for blending well beyond 10% of the nation's gasoline pool. The second paper addressed the effect the agricultural sector could have on the RFS, such as lower crop yields limiting feedstock, with the query following the worst drought in a generation last year.

API responded to questions regarding the House committee's third upcoming paper, "Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Other Environmental Impacts."

"Looking forward, according to [Energy Information Administration] data, transportation sector energy demand and associated emissions are projected to decline as a result of vehicle technology improvements, even as vehicle miles driven are projected to increase," said Greco, saying improving vehicle efficiency are reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Greco said to avoid unintended consequences in carrying out the RFS, renewable biomass should include complete lifecycle well-to-wheels assessments that result in societal benefits via cost effectiveness and positive impacts in areas such as GHGs, air quality, water, land, soil, biodiversity, food and others as outlined by a study by the National Academy of Sciences.

Greco said that it is not just low-level ethanol blends that cause environmental challenges.

"A 2012 peer-reviewed paper by the University of Minnesota compared gasoline to E85 for 12 different kinds of environmental impacts and found that in the aggregate, E85 blends were from 6% to 108% worse than gasoline, and were worse by 23% on average in the overall sustainability metric."

In addition, the vast majority of vehicles on the road, as well as the existing fuel distribution infrastructure have been designed to function using motor gasoline with no more than 10% ethanol.

"Fuel suppliers frequently blend biodiesel into petroleum diesel, at volumes of up to 5% for similar reasons," Greco said.

He said while blending ethanol and biodiesel is perceived to add value that does not "suggest that a mandate like the RFS is an appropriate or needed program."

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