Rep. Scott Perry (R-PA) on Friday proposed legislation that would abolish the renewable fuel standard (RFS), believing it has only harmed the environment and raised gas prices.
The Keystone State conservative unveiled the Eliminating the RFS and Its Destructive Outcomes Act, which he believes may help relieve inflationary pressure of gas prices.
“Eliminating the RFS is a vital step in preserving these essential jobs and reducing inflationary pressures,” Perry said in a written statement to Breitbart News. “By removing this mandate, we can curb the rising costs that are stretching household budgets to their limits.”
“While the RFS was intended to foster the use of environmentally friendly fuels, the environmental benefits of ethanol, particularly in replacing gasoline, are highly questionable. When evaluating the full environmental impact of increased corn production – including the water, land, and energy resources required – it becomes clear that the RFS has produced net negative environmental consequences,” he continued.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has noted that Congress created the RFS to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, expand the renewable fuels sector, while reducing reliance on imported oil.
The RFS program requires a certain volume of renewable fuel to be used to replace the quantity of fossil fuels in transportation fuel, home heating, or jet fuel.
However, Perry’s office has argued the RFS has failed to reducing dependence on foreign oil and promoting environmentally-friendly fuel alternatives.
The Heritage Foundation has noted how the use of corn-based ethanol in gasoline has only raised feed prices for cattle and poultry farmers and diverts valuable farmland from other agricultural uses:
Even within the mandate, we’re relying on cheaper biofuels from foreign sources to meet the requirements. The U.S. consumed 2.85 billion gallons of biodiesel in 2016 while producing only 1.568 billion gallons of biodiesel in 2016. Over 708 million gallons were imported in 2016, with 448 million gallons imported exclusively from Argentina.
Practically one-quarter of all biodiesel consumed in the U.S. in 2016 was imported from other countries. An overall net exporter of ethanol last year, the U.S. was a net importer of biodiesel.
“Once hailing biofuels as an important tool to mitigate climate change, the U.N.’s 2007 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s report acknowledged that biofuel policy negatively impacts the lives of the poor, diverts land to produce biofuels, has adverse environmental and climate consequences,” the Heritage Foundation wrote in another paper.
Using ethanol in gasoline also tends to contain about 30 percent less energy per unit volume than gasoline, may contain more fuel containments than gasoline, and may even damage small engines and older cars.
Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on X @SeanMoran3.
