AEC and BIO team up to run full-page New York Times ad on RFS

In Washington, the Advanced Ethanol Council and BIO are running a full-page ad in the New York Times aimed at the White House. The ad asserts that if the administration accepts the EPA’s proposal to alter the RFS, President Obama will have “ inadvertently done more to damage [his] climate legacy than [his] worst enemies.” Running in the New York Times today, the message coincides with “The People’s Climate March,” which had 300,000 attendees, and the beginning of Climate Week.

This ad follows a series of competing ads run by Fuels America and API. Last week, the organizations released ads targeting the White House’s decision on the RFS volume obligations. API’s ad is a TV stop, while Fuels America’s campaign ran a full-page USA Today ad from September 19-21.

More on the story.

Text from the ad is below:

“Dear Mr. President,

“When the federal government implemented the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) a little more than six years ago, America’s innovators listened. Companies like Abengoa, INEOS Bio, and POET-DSM invested billions of dollars developing cellulosic biofuel — the cleanest, lowest carbon motor fuel in the world — and the first commercial plants came online earlier this year.

“But these companies now have a problem no one anticipated.

“Your Administration is proposing to change the RFS rules in the middle of the game with a brand new methodological approach that allows oil companies to avoid their obligations under the law by simply refusing to distribute renewable fuel to consumers. You will have inadvertently done more to damage your climate legacy than your worst enemies.

“To be clear, our companies are not going to fail in the mission to commercialize cellulosic biofuel. But America will fail to lead the charge if your Administration lets oil companies off the hook. And papering over the problem by increasing the RFS targets this year will not prevent the exodus of investment to China and Brazil.

“When you announced power plant rules to combat climate change earlier this summer, you said that we need builders to hammer into place the foundations for a new clean-energy era.

“We agree. And we stand ready to back you.

“But handing landmark Clean Air Act programs like the RFS over to oil companies is not going to drive investment or give low-carbon industries like ours confidence that the United States is committed to innovation and addressing climate change.

“Mr. President, your legacy requires protecting the RFS.”