New RFA study scorches Big Oil on ethanol access; Grassley heads to FTC with findings

by | Jul 14, 2014 | News

WASHINGTON – Two senators are taking a report from the Renewable Fuels Association to the steps of the Federal Trade Commission, alleging it shows a bias against ethanol at fuel retailers across the country.

The report, called Protecting the Monopoly: How Big Oil Covertly Blocks the Sale of Renewable Fuels, alleges that compared to gas stations carrying a “Big Five” oil brand like BP plc or ExxonMobil, independent gas stations are 40 times more likely to offer an E15 blend to consumers, and 4-6 times more likely to offer E85.

Last year, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar and Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley sent a letter to the Federal Trade Commission concerning the possibility that large oil companies could be violating antitrust laws through pressures against ethanol blends at the local-retailer level. Grassley says the new report adds fuel to the fire.

“We got back a cookie-cutter-type letter from FTC saying they were going to look into it; we’ve never heard anymore from it,” says Grassley. “So now, with this report, we’re going to send that report to FTC to wake them up to what they promised they were going to do a year ago, and see if there are any laws violated here in what the big, international oil companies are doing.”

Grassley says it’s not difficult to see why an oil company would want to keep ethanol out of the mix as much as possible.

“The oil companies know that they’re going to have to sell more of a product,” Grassley says, “and that people are going to want to buy more of a product, that they don’t control, and they really don’t want you putting anything in your tank that they don’t control.”

The RFA report shows less than one percent of branded stations offer E15 or E85; that’s less than 300 stations out of 48,000 around the country.