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Letter to President Obama
Posted 21 August 2015 in
This open letter to President Obama will be running as a full page advertisement in the August 24th edition of the Las Vegas Review-Journal during Senator Reid’s National Clean Energy Summit.
Mr. President, the Renewable Fuel Standard is the only law on the books combating climate change.
Passed by Senator Reid and a bipartisan coalition 10 years ago this month, the RFS helped create over 850,000 jobs, reduce America’s oil imports by nearly two-thirds, and save consumers billions at the pump. All by tripling America’s production of clean, low carbon renewable fuel.
The RFS was a promise to investors that America would break the chokehold the oil industry has on fuel distribution and market access to create American jobs and consumer choice at the pump. Relying on this promise, innovators in the first and second generation biofuel industries invested billions.
Advanced biofuel facilities are coming online with fuels that cut carbon emissions by 88-108% compared to petroleum, according to the Department of Energy. But America’s biofuel innovators have a problem.
Under pressure from the oil industry, your Administration is proposing to change the law midstream to allow oil companies to avoid their obligations by simply refusing to distribute renewable fuel to consumers. The proposal would gut the core concept behind the law and break the promise of the RFS.
Advanced biofuel innovators are not going to fail. But America will fail to lead if you let oil companies off the hook and investors are forced to look overseas to more stable biofuel policies.
Mr. President, you campaigned on the promise of the RFS — and we agree with your statement that “there should be no question that the United States of America is stepping up to the plate,” as we head into climate talks in Paris. We can’t afford to dismantle a landmark Clean Air Act program, increase carbon emissions and send American innovation overseas.
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