Would a rollback of the mandates from the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) save American consumers money?
No. First, energy costs would be higher without biodiesel currently supplementing supply. In fact, biodiesel helps reduce energy costs that escalate food costs. Merrill Lynch commodities experts said in March that oil and gasoline prices would be about 15% higher if biofuels producers were not increasing their output. That would put oil at nearly $170 per barrel and U.S. gasoline prices could have surged to $4.73 per gallon, based upon July 2008 highs. As previously discussed, a leading factor in increased food costs is the rising cost of crude oil. The bipartisan Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA), enacted in December, 2007, significantly improved the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS) and included a requirement to use 500 million gallons of biomass-based diesel in the United States in 2009. This requirement gradually increases to 1 billion gallons by 2012. Biodiesel is one of the fuels available in the marketplace today that will qualify as a biomass-based diesel.
