The free market debate over the Renewable Fuel Standard

At the end of this month, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will finalize a decision regarding one of the most controversial mandates on Capitol Hill — the Renewable Fuel Standard.

Judging by a congressional hearing on Tuesday morning, whatever EPA decides will further fire up debate between those who think the RFS is a giveaway to corn-producing states and others who say it’s a valuable tool in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and reliance on oil.

“What we need to drive ‘competition in the marketplace’ is access to the marketplace that we are not going to get unless we have either the RFS or we break up the oil companies, which I don’t think is very politically popular,” said Brooke Coleman, executive director of the Advanced Biofuels Business Council, which wants to keep the standard in place.

“I just can’t believe what I just heard in this hearing room,” said one of the harshest critics of the RFS, Charlie Drevna, distinguished senior fellow at the Institute for Energy Research. “Mr. Coleman keeps on talking about this grand conspiracy [of] big oil trying to stop penetration into the market. The reality of the situation is … [oil producers regardless of size] do not control anything to do with the market.”

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