As the saying goes, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not his own facts.” In a recent Washington Times guest column, anti-ethanol critic Jerry Jung, founder of the group “ReThink Ethanol,” presents complete falsehoods about both ethanol and the Renewable Fuel Standard as facts in order to try and prove his opinion that ethanol is bad.
Renewable Fuels Association president and CEO Geoff Cooper attacked those falsehoods in a letter to the Washington Times, which the newspaper has not chosen to publish.
“How are we to trust Jung when he can’t even get basic facts about the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and ethanol correct?,” writes Cooper. “He claims the EPA “mandated” the production of 20.77 billion gallons of corn ethanol this year. No such mandate exists, nor has there ever been a requirement to use corn ethanol. Rather, EPA has proposed to require the use of 20.77 billion gallons of all renewable fuels under the RFS in 2022. Oil companies are free to choose the renewable fuel that makes the most sense for them to blend, be that biodiesel, biogas, renewable diesel, sustainable aviation fuel, cellulosic ethanol, or any number of other renewable fuels. Far from “mandating” corn ethanol, EPA in fact places a limit (of 15 billion gallons) on the amount of corn ethanol that can be used to fulfill the RFS requirements.”