Letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee: RFS is broken
The Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is increasingly recognized as a failed policy in need of attention by the Congress. With the exception of the corn and ethanol industries, which continue to benefit from the RFS mandate, nearly everyone else suffers under this unfair and destructive policy. We ask that the committee consider and mark-up legislation to address the RFS as soon as possible.
Although enacted with the best of intentions in 2005 when our nation faced very different circumstances from today’s, the RFS has created perverse incentives to overplant corn, distort food commodity markets and wreak economic and environmental havoc. We thank you for the committee’s serious and thoughtful bipartisan effort in the last Congress to review the RFS and consider possible reforms in light of the many unintended consequences that have resulted from the mandate since its inception. That process was very constructive and laid a foundation for significant changes to the policy.
Since that time the chorus of voices calling for RFS reforms has grown and the case against the policy has become even more convincing. The RFS is now in its 10th year—let us not allow this policy failure to continue to fester when its flaws are so plain to see. Only Congress can solve the problems created by the RFS. Our organizations are committed to working with you on a bipartisan legislative solution to achieve this goal.
