Washington – On its face, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) should reject the frivolous request by Texas Governor Rick Perry to waive 50% of the 2008 requirement for the production of biofuels under the Renewable Fuels Standard (RFS), the Renewable Fuels Association said today.

In written comments to EPA Administrator Stephen Johnson the RFA opposed the waiver request stating,, “To obtain a waiver [of the RFS], Texas, or any other petitioner, must show that there is severe harm to its or to the U.S. economy, that the harm is being directly caused by implementation of the RFS, and that reducing the RFS as requested in the waiver would redress the severe harm that is claimed to be occurring. Even if the statutory requirements were lax and did not require the showings listed above, the Texas request is so lacking in factual support that it would have to be denied.”

RFA President Bob Dinneen said, “The complete failure of Governor Perry’s request to meet the explicit criteria of a waiver lays bare the true motivation behind the Governor’s action, which has more to do with protecting the profits of integrated oil and livestock companies than with the economic well being of Texans and Americans around the country.”

Dinneen continued, “Against the backdrop of ever increasing oil and energy prices, to pull the rug out from beneath the only alternative fuel helping to reduce imports of oil and gasoline today would be a colossal mistake and a betrayal of the public trust. Any slight reduction in the price of corn achieved by a waiver would quickly be erased by the resulting meteoric rise in gasoline, diesel and oil prices.”

The two-page request by Governor Perry fundamentally fails to meet the legal criteria for granting a waiver and includes no information that supports the notion that the RFS is causing severe economic harm or that a waiver would provide relief. Specifically:

The claimed impacts on the livestock industry are a fraction of a percentage point of the $1.1 trillion Texas economy. Moreover, the negative effects claimed do not take into account the benefits that Texas receives from the RFS program in terms of lower prices at the pump for its consumers and the creation of many jobs. Based on the average gasoline consumption of Texans and the 31% increase in gasoline costs that would result if this waiver were granted could cause Texans to pay an additional $15.7 billion for gasoline.

“Thus, the failure to consider the benefits of the RFS (including the negative effects of relaxing it) is a major flaw in the Governor’s analysis that on its own warrants rejection of the State’s request,” the association wrote.

The RFS was included as part of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 signed into law last December.”

Even if Governor Perry’s assertions as to the severe economic harm being seen in Texas were true, and they are not, the waiver request provides no information that demonstrates the RFS is the cause of the alleged harm. In fact, Governor Perry’s alma mater, Texas A&M University, concluded in a study the Governor requested that that the real drivers of corn price increases are the oil prices that the RFS is intended to ameliorate by bringing renewable fuels to market.

“Since implementation of the RFS is not causing the harm claimed by Texas, no waiver can be granted.”

Reducing or relaxing the RFS in any manner would have no meaningful impact on high corn prices. As Texas A&M concluded, “Relaxing the RFS does not result in significantly lower corn prices.”

A complete copy of RFA’s comments in opposition to Governor Perry’s waiver request can be found at

Visit ethanolrfa.org for more information.