Washington, D.C. – After a broad, bipartisan coalition of 39 senators issued a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) calling on the agency to increase its proposed biofuel targets for 2017 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), Americans for Energy Security and Innovation (AESI) Chairman Jim Talent issued the following statement:
“This is a clear message to the EPA that lawmakers expect the agency to hit the biofuel targets set in statute and move us closer to true energy security. Weaker targets, as the agency proposed in May, fall short of the goals we set in Congress and would undermine America’s commitment to homegrown energy. The EPA cannot simply waive America’s renewable energy goals on the basis of the oil industry’s refusal to make arrangements to blend the fuel – the law was always meant to open the market to competition.
“Bipartisan support for biofuels remains strong because the RFS unites those who care about cleaner air, better jobs, stronger energy security, and more affordable options at the gas pump. Without the RFS, consumers and domestic energy producers would remain vulnerable to hostile forces that seek to manipulate the global oil market. This is a policy that is vital to America’s future, and with so much active support in the Senate, there’s good reason to be confident that the RFS will continue to drive America’s transition to clean, homegrown energy.”