Letter to Hon. Joe Biden, President of the United States - Thune, Grassley, Colleagues Again Seek Meeting With Biden Admin On Commonsense Biofuel Policies

Letter

Dear President Biden:
We write to reiterate our July request to meet with you, members of your Cabinet, and our
Democratic colleagues to discuss the tremendous opportunity that biofuels like ethanol and
biodiesel may contribute to your administration's energy, environmental, and transportation
agenda. Now, as rising energy prices stoke consumer fears of more resolute, long-term inflation,
our request takes on new urgency.
Like you, we want all Americans to have access to affordable and reliable sources of energy,
including transportation and winter heating fuel. This requires an all-the-above energy strategy
that equally leverages responsible resource development and innovation. American biofuels
represent both, and as we outlined in our previous letter, they hold the proven ability to provide
consumers broad choices for cleaner and more affordable energy. These contributions would
expand with timely action by your administration.
We have seen reports that your administration has consulted with representatives of the oil and
gas industry to address mounting energy concerns. We do not write to discourage the expansion
of domestic oil and gas extraction, including on federal lands. Rather, we encourage the
development of these national resources that drove America's recent energy dominance,
propelled economic growth, and insulated consumers from the bullying of international oil
cartels. However, we strongly caution against attacks that misconstrue the Renewable Fuel
Standard (RFS) as the source of America's rising energy prices or seek to exploit global
influences to undermine the American biofuels industry.
Higher blends of biofuels like E15 provide consumers with a lower-cost, greener option at the
fuel pump. As we wrote, ethanol has 46 percent lower lifecycle emissions than conventional
gasoline, with increasingly efficient agriculture and advancements in fuel technology striving to
achieve a 70 percent reduction by 2030 and a net-zero fuel in the coming decades.1
Additionally,
higher blends of ethanol will expand consumer choice and lessen the volume of conventional
fuel needed for each vehicle, easing the ongoing supply constraint while also generating more--
and thus reduce the price of--RINs, the RFS compliance credits.
In our letter, we outlined numerous steps your administration can take to advance its low-carbon
agenda with the assistance of renewable fuels. Most pressing is the need for the administration to set robust renewable volume obligations, which will help restore the integrity of the RFS in
accordance with Congressional intent, and to not undercut the blending targets with subsequent
small refinery exemptions. Similarly, the administration must not backtrack on previous
blending targets, which by statute are already responsive to fluctuations in fuel
consumption. Additionally, the administration should take immediate action to promote biofuels
in domestic and foreign markets, beginning with scoring and comparing all energy sources fairly
with updated modeling, such as Argonne National Laboratory's Greenhouse gases, Regulated
Emissions, and Energy use in Transportation (GREET) Model, and approving long-stalled
registrations for advanced, cleaner fuels, like those derived from corn kernel fiber. Lastly, the
administration should seek to reestablish the year-round sale of E15 and support infrastructure
investments to help fuel retailers provide this cleaner, more affordable fuel option for American
drivers. E15, which is commonly marketed as Unleaded 88, can save consumers an average of 5
to 10 cents per gallon. Taking swift action will not only help alleviate the present energy
situation, but failure to do so will leave meaningful carbon emission reductions on the table.
The benefits of expanded biofuel use do not stop at the water's edge, and we are encouraged to
see countries like India recognize the potential that higher blends of ethanol hold to meet energy
needs and environmental goals. India has set a target of 10 percent ethanol blending by 2022 and
increasing to a rate of 20 percent ethanol by 2025.
2 This not only suggests a promising export
market for American farmers and biofuel producers, but underscores how biofuels can be
leveraged immediately to reduce transportation emissions without overhauling the entire electric
grid. We urge your administration to feature biofuels as part of its international outreach on
energy, environment, and trade, including the upcoming Conference of the Parties (COP26) in
Glasgow, Scotland.
Mr. President, biofuels are a readily available energy solution that deserve full consideration--
not only for helping to stem the recent increase in fuel prices, which has subsequently
accelerated inflation--but to serve as a foundational source of transportation emission reductions
as part of your energy and environmental agenda. We call on your administration to utilize the
full capacity of American agriculture to deliver on both fronts, and we reiterate our request to
discuss these matters with you in greater detail.
Sincerely,