The House Science, Space and Technology committee held a joint hearing of the subcommittees on Environment and Oversight titled “Renewable Fuel Standard: A Ten Year Review of Costs and Benefits.” Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) President and CEO Bob Dinneen released the following statement regarding the hearing. “Today’s hearing reflected the fact that Big Oil’s narrative opposing the RFS no longer has any currency,” said Dinneen. “The argument from Wendy’s, for example, alleging the RFS drove food prices higher was demonstrably refuted by the simple fact that corn prices are lower today than when the original RFS was passed in 2005. Testimony by the Congressional Budget Office further confirmed that expanding the RFS to statutory levels would not increase food prices further. Today’s hearing shows that, once and for all, the food versus fuel canard should permanently be put to rest.
“Further, the controversial notion espoused by Dr. DeCicco that the carbon emissions from biofuels are no better than, and could be worse than, gasoline was similarly refuted when upon questioning he could not come up with a logical explanation as to why recycling carbon through plant growth is not inherently and infinitely better than releasing carbon from stored petroleum after thousands of years. When confronted with the fact that his theory is not supported by EPA, DOE, USDA, CARB or any other state or federal regulatory agency, Dr. DeCicco had nothing substantive to offer.
“This hearing may have been teed up as a platform to regurgitate Big Oil’s narrative on the RFS, but all it really served to do was to expose the fundamental flaws in their anti-RFS campaign.”
Dinneen thanked representatives Suzanne Bonamici, Don Beyer, and Darin LaHood for their staunch support of the RFS in the face of repeated attacks by the oil patch.