Obama Proposes Reducing Biofuel Requirement

December 2, 2013- The Obama administration in November proposed to reduce the amount of ethanol in America’s fuel supply for the first time, USA Today reported. The administration acknowledged that the 2007 biofuel law has not been working as well as expected.

The change would require nearly 3 billion gallons less of ethanol and other biofuels to be blended into gasoline in 2014 than the law requires.The proposal highlights the government's struggle to ramp up production of homegrown biofuels that are cleaner-burning than gasoline. It is not likely to mean much for consumers at the pump.

The 2007 law tried to address global warming by requiring oil companies to blend billions of gallons of biofuels into their gasoline each year. But politicians who wrote the law didn't anticipate fuel economy to improve as much as it has, which reduced demand for gasoline. 

Meanwhile, next-generation biofuels have not taken off as quickly as expected. President Obama has championed biofuels, and his administration has resisted previous calls to repeal the law. If the EPA stuck to the volumes mandated by law, the amount of biofuel required would generate more ethanol than many engines can safely handle, officials said. 

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