Ron Lamberty, Senior Vice President for the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), issued the following statement on the calls from Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) and Charles Grassley (R-IA) to have the Justice Department and the Federal Trade Commission investigate alleged anti-competitive practices by oil companies for potentially blocking market access for renewable fuels like ethanol
“ACE members thank Senators Grassley and Klobuchar for standing up to Big Oil and investigating this market-restricting behavior on the part of the oil companies. The RFS will only be unworkable if Congress allows Big Oil to make it appear unworkable. If we had more lawmakers like Senators Grassley and Klobuchar, maybe Big Oil’s attacks wouldn’t be taken so seriously in Washington.
As a fuel station owner, every time I hear some Big Oil mouthpiece saying we should “let the market decide” how much ethanol is used, I think of these kinds of restrictions the oil companies have been jamming down station owners’ throats for decades, making sure only one decision is possible – oil.
Senators Grassley and Klobuchar are right. This year alone, Big Oil has spent millions on ads to convince consumers and Congress that they don’t want E15 or other ethanol blends that they’ve never been allowed to try, and to make that distortion appear real, oil companies have done everything they can to make sure station owners are never allowed to sell the fuel, and consumers are never allowed to buy it.
Oil companies have even gone to the extent of using their control of the pipeline system to make a lower-octane substandard fuel the main fuel used in the country, precisely because that fuel allows them to control the distribution and cost of ethanol. We encourage the Department of Justice and FTC to commence this investigation immediately.”