Gasoline prices are the highest they have been in seven years and inflation is at a 30-year high, a double hit to American families. The Biden administration has aggravated the situation with new regulatory requirements on oil and gas producers as well as limits on domestic oil and gas exploration. But policy inaction also costs Americans at the pump. Consider the Biden administration’s failure to make decisions on the Renewable Fuels Standard.
Under the RFS, the Environmental Protection Agency, in consultation with the Department of Energy, sets the annual volumes of renewable fuel, such as ethanol and biodiesel, to be blended into the nation’s fuel supply. Congress set the general RFS parameters into law in 2007, but the specific annual volume targets must be set by regulation for each coming year before that year begins.