HENNEPIN — Members of Marquis Energy LLC of Hennepin recently returned from a trip to Washington, D.C., to address Congress. President and Production Manager Jason Marquis, CEO Mark Marquis, and Director of Communications and Political Affairs Dana Gustafson were among those representing fuel ethanol producers who are trying to keep the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) alive.
"The Renewable Fuel Standard basically tries to get America's dependence on foreign oil lowered," said Gustafson. "With ethanol production and domestic drilling, our domestic energy has increased."
Currently, most gasoline sold in America has a 10 percent ethanol content, and the Environmental Protection Agency has approved a 15 percent blend for cars built since 2000, which is good news for corn farmers but bad news for oil companies.
"The oil companies have had quite a while to comply with this legislation, but they have put it off," said Gustafson. "As such, they do not want to have to comply. It's basically become a fight over marketshare.
"Ethanol very quickly went from 1 percent of the fuel supply to 10 percent of the fuel supply, and the oil companies recognize that they're probably never going to get that marketshare back," said Gustafson. "Ethanol is the most economic American fuel produced at this point in time."
The American Petroleum Institute has sent its spokesmen to Washington, D.C., to try to repeal the RFS.
API spokesman Bob Greco said, “While the RFS may have been well-intentioned six years ago, it is a dangerous relic of America’s era of fuel scarcity. Today, the RFS is not just outdated; it is bad public policy that is poised to harm millions of consumers.”
"Removing the RFS would allow oil companies to blend as they choose, and would remove any incentives for investing in further ethanol research," said Gustafson. "Oil companies have had some of their best profits lately. They have deep pockets and are able to spread their misinformation about E-15 and ethanol. We're currently involved in a David-and-Goliath battle with them.
"They're trying to use fear tactics to get people to call their congressmen (and say), 'I hear this is bad for my car,' but ethanol is the most tested fuel in the history of America," Gustafson said. "They've done millions of miles of testing on it; NASCAR runs on it; they've never had any problems.
"Henry Ford originally designed cars to work on ethanol," said Gustafson. "The first Model T ran on ethanol; Ford called it the fuel of the future."
The RFS was established under the Energy Policy Act in 2005 by President George W. Bush, and set a requirement for 7.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended with gasoline by 2012.