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Posted on  

November 2, 2001

AS CONGRESS ADDRESSES CONCERNS OVER MTBE, ALL POLICY GOALS OF RFG OXYGEN STANDARD MUST BE MAINTAINED

Oxygen Standard Protects Environment, Boosts Farm Income and Enhances Energy Security

WASHINGTON, DC - Testifying at a U.S. House of Representatives Energy and Commerce subcommittee hearing examining the use of MTBE in reformulated gasoline (RFG), Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) president Bob Dinneen today outlined the positive impact of the federal oxygen standard on reducing harmful emissions, enhancing energy security, and boosting rural economic development. Dinneen urged the Committee to preserve these public policy goals as they work to address concerns regarding MTBE water contamination.

“The public policy drivers behind the enactment of the oxygen standard in 1990 remain just as important, if not more so, today,” stated Dinneen. “The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 established the oxygen requirement in the federal RFG program to achieve several important public policy goals, including environmental benefits from the reduction of vehicle emissions, rural economic benefits to be gained from increased use of agricultural commodities in the production of renewable fuels, and energy security with the increased use of domestically-produced fuels.”

The RFG program assures air quality benefits through the combination of emissions performance standards and an oxygen requirement. As a result, the RFG program has provided toxic reductions in excess of those required by the performance standards alone. The oxygen standard has also provided reductions in carbon monoxide, fine particulates and polycyclic organic matter, for which there are no performance standards.

“The widespread use of MTBE to satisfy the oxygen requirement has had a negative impact on water quality,” stated Dinneen. “As the Congress considers policies to address MTBE contamination, the value of providing increased market opportunities for domestically produced renewable energy, such as ethanol, should be a top priority. The war against terrorism in the Middle East underscores our nation’s dangerous dependence upon unstable regions of the country for our energy supplies. The RFA supports policies that maintain the air quality benefits of the existing RFG program and recognize the laudable policy concerns behind the oxygen standard: the environmental, rural economic development and energy security benefits of renewable fuels such as ethanol.

 

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