Time to set the record straight on EPA’s premature approval of E15 fuel for the marketplace – necessitated by EPA administrator nominee Gina McCarthy’s recent inaccurate and misleading responses to Senate questions about E15 testing. McCarthy was asked:

“Was EPA aware of ongoing (Coordinating Research Council) testing on engine durability, fuel pumps and other engine components? Why not wait until that test was complete before making a decision? Because in the aftermath it looks like the decision was, at best, premature. The CRC data shows millions of approved vehicles are in danger of engine damage.”

Let’s take on the faulty claims in McCarthy’s written responses in turn:

EPA or the Energy Department was “expressly denied” a role in CRC’s E15 testing program: False

• EPA, D... more »

Ethanol advocates often assert that ethanol costs less per gallon than gasoline while trying to justify the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS).  While it’s true that on a gallon-to-gallon basis ethanol historically has been cheaper than gasoline, ethanol contains far less energy than gasoline and therefore has cost consumers more to travel the same distance, as I pointed out (here, here and here).  Look at the graphics below, produced by EPA and the Energy Department: The real costs to consumers, measured in fuel economy, has been significant.

As you can see, vehicles that can run on either gasoline or E85 (average 74 percent ethanol content) get significantly fewer miles per gallon when using comparatively low energy ethanol blended fuels.  This means that in addition to the ex... more »

It’s one thing to have genuine differences over energy regulatory policy – as the oil and natural gas industry has with EPA’s proposed Tier 3 rule further lowering sulfur levels in gasoline. It’s quite another to see that the rulemaking process is being gamed.

API highlighted substantive and procedural concerns about the Tier 3 proposal at recent public hearings. The rule would require refiners – who invested about $9 billion over the past decade to reduce sulfur in gasoline 90 percent (300 parts per million to 30 ppm) – to lower sulfur content another 6 percent, to 10 ppm. According to one study, the reduction would produce little environmental benefit, while another said it could add 6 to 9 cents per gallon to the cost of making gasoline. API Senior Policy Advisor Patrick Kelly, f... more »

Imports of crude oil have decreased significantly over the past four years as the U.S. has become more self-reliant in meeting its energy needs domestically. In fact, as the graph below shows, from the beginning of 2008 through the end of 2012 net U.S. oil imports have declined by more than 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) while domestic production has increased by almost 1.5 million bpd. In short, the increase in domestic production accounts for all of the reduction in imports and then some.

The 2008-to-2012 timeframe is especially significant, because the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007), which set the required ethanol volumes for the current Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), was signed into law Dec. 19, 2007.

Here’s the point: The ethanol industry and its... more »

Over the past few months we’ve talked about problems with the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the risks its mandates for higher blends of ethanol in fuel may pose to vehicle engines and fuel systems, as well as to service station pumps and storage tanks. But backers of increased ethanol use – major corn growers and the Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) – claim that the science detailing these risks is irrelevant, that the concerns of environmental groups, consumer safety advocates like AAA, food groups, state regulators and the oil industry are unfounded and are designed to protect the oil industry’s fuel market share. Yet, as we'll discuss here, it appears that RFA’s main concern about the RFS is its market share – which may explain why the group frequently is so willing to ignore fac... more »