With so many business interests involved, there is clearly a lot at stake – thousands of jobs and billions of dollars for starters – but what lies beneath the spin, backroom politics and exaggeration?

 

The Environmental Protection Agency created the RFS program under the Energy Policy Act (EPAct) of 2005, and established the country’s first renewable fuel volume mandate. A major RFS component – perhaps the most controversial – seeks to ensure 10% of the US fuel supply consists of ethanol and there is talk of expanding this to 15%.