Originally published by The Hill
Proponents of a fuel blend containing 15 percent ethanol year-round pitch its sales as a form of deregulation and consumer choice. In truth, “E15,” as it is known, is the ethanol lobby’s Trojan horse to expand one of the most costly and destructive federal mandates in U.S. history: the Renewable Fuel Standard.
Without reforms to the underlying rule, the E15 expansion entrenches a hidden gas tax, drives up food and fuel prices, slashes vehicle efficiency, threatens refining jobs, and undermines American energy dominance. Republicans who champion free markets and affordable energy must oppose it.
The Renewable Fuel Standard functions as a 30-cent hidden tax on every gallon of gasoline and diesel. Refiners are forced to buy tradeable compliance credits, the costs of which are passed straight to consumers at the pump. The Energy Policy Research Foundation estimates the Renewable Fuel Standard adds roughly 30 cents per gallon. Over the last decade, the mandate has cost Americans about $164 billion in higher fuel prices.
The absurdity is worse: The final mandated gallons of ethanol cost roughly $770 per gallon to force into the market. EPA’s own analysis projects an additional $6.7 billion in societal fuel costs.
This isn’t an energy policy — it’s a corporate bailout.
Year-round E15 isn’t about consumer choice; it is a government-mandated expansion by another name. Ethanol and corn lobby interests have openly stated that the goal is to build infrastructure for even higher, currently unachievable blending volumes. Without the Renewable Fuel Standard, the market would largely stick with E10. Only a minimal 0.34 percent of blending is truly driven by the mandate beyond voluntary levels.
If ethanol were truly competitive, its supporters would welcome phasing out the RFS. Instead, they demand both expanded E15 sales and preservation of the mandate. This reveals their true agenda. The renewable standard compels consumers to purchase a fuel with 33 percent less energy per gallon than gasoline, then calls it “freedom.” It is the policy equivalent of paying full price for a car that only runs one-third of the time.
The Renewable Fuel Standard fails every justification offered for it. It doesn’t enhance energy security. One-third of the U.S. corn harvest yields only about 10 percent of our gasoline. Replacing gasoline with ethanol would require four to five times current corn production, which is impossible.
Full life-cycle emissions analysis shows corn ethanol often matches or exceeds gasoline’s carbon footprint, at an abatement cost of $1,464 per metric ton. It also increases smog, which is the very reason E15 was originally banned in the summer.
The mandate distorts agriculture by diverting massive amounts of corn and soybeans from food and feed to fuel tanks, driving up grocery prices. EPA itself acknowledges higher food costs, and the conversion of forests, wetlands and grasslands to cropland.
Worse yet, the Renewable Fuel Standard is crushing independent refiners, who produce roughly half of U.S. fuel. Many now spend more on renewable standard compliance than on payroll and other operating costs combined — which threatens domestic refining capacity while benefiting large integrated majors that can generate their own credits.
E15 also poses practical risks. It isn’t approved for year 2000 vehicle models and older motorcycles, boats or small engines. Drivers also get fewer miles per gallon, making the purported savings imaginary.
The conservative solution is straightforward: Allow every fuel blend to compete freely on a level playing field without government mandates or subsidies. Congress should cap or repeal RFS volumes at current production levels and phase them down aggressively; i.e., by 20 percentage points annually over five years until the mandate ends.
A vote for E15 without reform to the Renewable Fuel Standard is a vote to expand a hidden tax on Americans.
Real reform, on the other hand, is a vote for lower fuel prices, competitive markets and genuine energy dominance.
Republicans must decide: government-mandated fuel for the ethanol lobby, or fuel freedom for Americans?
Scott Perry represents the 10th District of Pennsylvania and Chip Roy represents the 21th District of Texas. Both are members of the House Freedom Caucus.