Go Big or Go Home: Only Solution for RFS is Full Repeal

WASHINGTON – Today, the American Energy Alliance launched a six-figure advocacy initiative urging Congress to reject efforts that fall short of fully repealing the Renewable Fuel Standard. Amid speculation that the Toomey-Feinstein partial repeal language could be added as an amendment to the Senate Energy Bill, AEA will run a digital advocacy initiative in Washington, D.C. and Pennsylvania. These ads will educate D.C. policymakers about why full repeal is the only solution and call on Pennsylvanians to set Senator Toomey straight.

“The RFS is a broken policy and no amount of tinkering is going to fix it,” said AEA President Tom Pyle.

“The Toomey-Feinstein partial repeal would make the RFS even more burdensome for Americans because it will focus the mandate on costly phantom fuels like cellulosic ethanol. This plan would move America towards a California-style Low Carbon Fuel Standard, which is partly why Californians pay the highest gas prices in the country. Congress should learn from California’s disastrous energy policy, not mimic it.”

View the Pennsylvania digital banner ads here and here.

View the D.C. digital banner ad here.

View one of the Facebook ads here.

AEA has also joined a coalition of free-market and conservative organizations in a letter opposing the Toomey-Feinstein language. Below is an excerpt from the letter:

The RFS is a broken and deeply flawed program. Corn ethanol does not need the mandate to survive in the market, and doing away with only the implied-corn ethanol part of the program would make the mandate worse by focusing it on expensive “advanced” biofuels. This would raise gasoline prices on Americans, who are currently enjoying much-needed relief in the form of low fuel prices.

Lastly, we want to make it clear that we do not support subsidies or mandates for any fuel. The RFS is fatally flawed, but the Toomey-Feinstein proposal does not fix the problem.

We urge you to oppose the Toomey-Feinstein proposal, or any language aimed at repealing the corn ethanol mandate and preserving the advanced biofuel, cellulosic biofuel, and biomass-based diesel requirements.

Click here to read the full letter.

Click here to read The Hill’s article on AEA’s advocacy initiative.

To schedule an interview with AEA President Tom Pyle, contact Chris Warren at [email protected] or 202-621-2947.

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