House Energy & Commerce Subcommittee Two-Day Hearing On The RFS

The House Energy & Commerce Committee's Subcommittee on Energy and Power held its much anticipated two-day hearing on the RFS, with 16 witnesses from both sides testifying. The following is the full list of witnesses:

Panel I
• Mr. Jack N. Gerard, President and CEO, American Petroleum Institute
• Mr. Charles T. Drevna, President, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers
• Mr. Bob Dinneen, President and CEO, Renewable Fuels Association
• Mr. Michael McAdams, President, Advanced Biofuels Association
• Dr. Jeremy I. Martin, Senior Scientist, Clean Vehicles Program, Union of Concerned Scientists

Panel II
• Mr. Tom Buis, CEO, Growth Energy
• Mr. Shane Karr, Vice President, Federal Government Affairs, The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers
• Mr. Todd J. Teske, Chairman and CEO, Briggs & Stratton Corporation
• Mr. Robert Darbelnet, President and CEO, AAA
• Mr. Joseph H. Petrowski, CEO, The Cumberland Gulf Group, on behalf of Society of Independent Gasoline Marketers of America and National Association of Convenience Stores
• Mr. Joe Jobe, CEO, National Biodiesel Board

Panel III
• Ms. Pam Johnson, President, National Corn Growers Association
• Mr. Bill Roenigk, Senior Vice President, National Chicken Council
• Mr. Ed Anderson, CEO, Wen-Gap, LLC, on behalf of National Council of Chain Restaurants
• Mr. Scott Faber, Vice President of Government Affairs, Environmental Working Group
• Mr. Chris Hurt, Professor, Department of Agricultural Economics, Purdue University

Information on the hearing and the witness statements are available online.

The Subcommittee's background memo on the hearing is available online.

The hearing follows the five white papers recently released by the Subcommittee requesting stakeholder input on various aspects of the RFS. It is believed that Subcommittee Chair Ed Whitfield (R-KY) is working to ultimately modify the RFS through the legislative process. In fact, on the first day of the hearing, Subcommittee Member John Shimkus (R-IL) asserted that the petroleum and biofuels industries must work toward advocating in good faith for constructive modifications to the law. He also mentioned that he does not believe there are enough votes to repeal the law. The petroleum industry is advocating for the law's repeal, while the biofuels industry generally is advocating that the RFS is working as intended and that any changes to it should be made under the existing law and within the regulatory process.

Witnesses representing these industries made these points during the hearing on July 23, 2013. On July 24, 2013, witnesses from the livestock industry argued that the RFS negatively impacts the cost and availability of feed. The livestock industry helped lead the charge for EPA to temporarily waive RFS requirements due to the drought which affected crops last year. EPA denied the waiver request, which came from governors of states heavily involved in the livestock industry. It found that the RFS requirements would not severely harm the economy or environment of a state, a region, or the United States. EPA's Fact Sheet on this waiver decision is available online.