CONTACT: Roy Houseman, (202) 778-4384, rhouseman@usw.org
The United Steelworkers (USW) said today that while it will continue to review the details, it supports a deal brokered by the President that appears to address the long-running conflict between ethanol producers and oil refiners over federal biofuels mandates.
The deal aims to provide relief for merchant refiners by incorporating additional Renewable Identification Number (RINs) generated by exports while permitting 15 percent ethanol fuels to be sold year round.
USW refinery workers have over the last few years raised the issue of the impact of high Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) compliance costs, meeting with dozens of senators and representatives to talk about how the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) use of RINs to track RFS compliance threatens thousands of family-supporting, community-sustaining jobs across the country.
USW members at Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) experienced significant uncertainty as the company went through bankruptcy earlier this year partly due to high RFS compliance costs.
The USW said that it will continue to engage Congress and the administration to ensure that RFS reform will benefit consumers and protect oil jobs without significantly impacting the ethanol industry.
The USW represents 850,000 workers in North America employed in many industries that include metals, rubber, chemicals, paper, oil refining and the service and public sectors.