CEI’s Marlo Lewis Comments on EPA 2018 Renewable Fuel Standards

Senior Fellow Marlo Lewis of the Competitive Enterprise Institute commented on the EPA’s 2018 renewable fuel standards (RFS) released today:

“Caving to pressure from Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who threatened to vote against President Trump’s nominee to head EPA’s air office, the agency decided to slightly increase rather than slightly decrease the overall RFS blending target for 2018. In July, EPA had proposed to decrease the RFS from 19.28 billion gallons in 2017 to 19.24 billion gallons in 2018. That miniscule 0.2 percent reduction was deemed intolerable by the biofuel lobby and its congressional patrons. The final rule sets the 2018 RFS at 19.29 billion gallons, a 0.05 percent increase over the 2017 standard. Although utterly trivial in economic terms, the miniscule increase is a political victory for those whose regulatory rents and campaign contributions depend on the piratical dogma that, regardless of market conditions and consumer preference, biofuel producers are always entitled to squeeze more dollars out of motorists at the pump.”