Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) is calling on the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to lessen the renewable fuel standard (RFS) that refiners must meet when manufacturing gasoline – and to do so in a timely manner.
According to federal law, every November, the EPA must announce a sensible RFS mandate for the upcoming calendar year.
“Unfortunately, the EPA failed to meet this responsibility last year when it ignored the deadline and increased the RFS mandate on gasoline manufacturers,” Toomey said. “This led to increased compliance costs for many Pennsylvania employers, including refineries located in Southeast Pennsylvania.”
Toomey said that the EPA’s failure to follow the law last year put many good-paying jobs in Southeast Pennsylvania in jeopardy.
“I urge the EPA to follow federal law and announce the RFS for 2014 in a timely manner,” he said. “Additionally, I encourage the EPA to establish standards that ease unnecessary burdens on employers and consumers across our commonwealth. The RFS requires fuel suppliers to blend millions of gallons of biofuels – most often corn ethanol – into the nation’s gasoline supplies. It drives up gas prices, increases food costs, damages car engines, and harms the environment. This Washington mandate is anything but sensible.”
Toomey supports repealing the RFS and has co-authored a bipartisan bill and offered an amendment in efforts to eliminate the costly mandate.
Toomey’s letter to the EPA can be found here