Biofuel mandate driving up cost of gasoline

Bloomberg/Fuel Fix:

Makers of some renewable fuels are asking the federal government to ease quotas for use of their products in a bid to head off a congressional overhaul of a program that refiners say is driving up costs at the pump.

With production of fuels made from sources such as wood waste, algae or used cooking oils at a fraction of what was envisioned in a 2007 law, the Environmental Protection Agency needs to adjust requirements for use of biofuels in coming years, according to the Advanced Biofuels Association. The statute allows the EPA to adjust the requirements, and prompt EPA action would quell refiners’ fears that there won’t be enough renewable fuel to meet the mandate, they say.

“It’s highly likely they will be lower than what’s in the statute,” Michael McAdams, the president of the group representing 46 companies, said of the quotas. While changes aren’t needed this year, EPA should set out the likely quotas for 2014 and 2015 “in one move, so everybody sees what the glide path is.”

Under the federal law, refiners such as Exxon Mobil Corp. and Valero Energy Corp. must use a certain amount of renewable fuels each year, or buy credits called Renewable Identification Numbers, known as RINs, to meet their production quotas. The program, the Renewable Fuel Standard, has separate requirements for cellulosic fuels, diesel made from biomass such as soybean oil, as well as a general renewable category that is largely filled by ethanol made from corn.

With the use of gasoline falling, refiners say that EPA’s current mandate means they can’t sell enough ethanol without exceeding the 10 percent blended level deemed safe for all vehicles. The risk of insufficient capacity for ethanol has in recent weeks pushed up RIN prices to record levels.

The program “is today completely untethered from reality, and unless it is immediately halted will unnecessarily cost our economy and consumers billions of dollars,” Jack Gerard, the president of the American Petroleum Institute, which represents oil majors such as Exxon, told a congressional panel on July 23. Gerard, who participated in two days of hearings in the House Energy and Commerce committee this week, called on Congress to scrap it.
...

The mandates were the product of a time of perceived scarcity of oil and gas.  That is no longer the case, yet we are still stuck with costly requirements that are unnecessary.  I favor repeal the madates completely and letting those making the products compete in the marketplace.