WASHINGTON, June 14, 2013 – The American Petroleum Institute (API) today called on the Obama administration to use its waiver authority to lower an unsafe ethanol mandate immediately before it hurts consumers, damages vehicles, and delivers a severe blow to America’s economy.

“The ever increasing ethanol mandate has become unsustainable, causing a looming crisis for gasoline consumers,” said API Downstream Group Director Bob Greco. “We’re at the point where refiners are being pressured to put unsafe levels of ethanol in gasoline, which could damage vehicles, harm consumers, and wreak havoc on our economy.”

As we approach the blend wall when more ethanol is required than is safe for vehicles, the mandate could drive up the cost of diesel by 300 percent and the cost of gasoline by 30 percent by 2015, according to a report by NERA. In turn, that could cause a $770 billion decrease in U.S. GDP and reduce take home pay for American workers by $580 billion. Furthermore, higher ethanol blends can damage engines and cause vehicles to break down, according to testing by the Coordinating Research Council (here and here).

“Congress must repeal the mandate,” Greco said. “But there isn’t much time to get this done. To protect consumers in the near term, EPA has the authority to reduce the mandate now. This would immediately lessen the blend wall problem until Congress can act.”

API is a national trade association that represents all segments of America’s technology-driven oil and natural gas industry. Its more than 500 members – including large integrated companies, exploration and production, refining, marketing, pipeline, and marine businesses, and service and supply firms – provide most of the nation’s energy. The industry also supports 9.2 million U.S. jobs and 7.7 percent of the U.S. economy, delivers $85 million a day in revenue to our government, and, since 2000, has invested over $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives.