News

Open letter fights back against API's ethanol smear campaign

Reading Time: 2 minutes

The president of the Renewable Fuels Association and the CEO of Growth Energy recently penned an open letter to Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute (API). The letter appeared in both the New York Times and Politico.

API has been running television ads to further generate fear among consumers about the effect E15 has on car engines. Here’s one of the best passages from the letter:

“Despite the millions of dollars your industry has spent on bogus TV ads, there hasn’t been a single reported case of engine damage from ethanol blended fuels like E15. But last week, Exxon admitted selling customers in Louisiana more than 5 million gallons of oil-based gasoline that was so bad that it’s been stopping cars dead in their tracks. In fact, one auto shop reported 40 or 50 customers who had trouble starting their engines as a result of Exxon’s contaminated gas. That’s 40 or 50 more cases of engine problems than have been reported in the entire country from E15, and that’s just one shop in Baton Rouge!”

So it’s Big Oil, not ethanol, causing engine problems. No wonder API has to run smear campaigns against ethanol. At the very least, it distracts consumers from the problems caused by its own product.

There’s all kinds of good stuff in this letter. Even the post-script spot on:

PS – We heard that your friend Rex Tillerson from Exxon has joined a lawsuit to block the construction of a water tower “monstrosity” near his house that could be used to support fracking operations. We don’t have a dog in the fracking fight, but wouldn’t it be great if there was a clean, renewable fuel that was better for our cars, cheaper, and didn’t need to be fracked? Hmmmm….

Thank you Bob Dinneen (RFA) and Tom Buis (Growth Energy) for standing up to API and trying to set the record straight about E15 and homegrown ethanol. Be sure to read the entire letter as it appeared in the New York Times and Politico here.

Did you like this article?

Share this post with your friends!