Strong Arm Tactics

Covert and strong arm tactics are things that major oil companies have been accused of by the Renewable Fuels Association. Think of the things you’ve heard about ethanol - using it will damage your car’s engine, making ethanol raises gas prices, and how about that the ethanol industry is using up U.S. corn crops - causing food prices to increase. The RFA says major oil companies make it extremely and needlessly expensive for retailers to offer consumers more ethanol-blend choices at the pumps through subversive tactics such as “highly prescriptive fuel supply contracts and highly restrictive franchise and branding agreements”; thus successfully preventing or discouraging retailers from selling higher volumes of renewable fuels. It should come as no surprise to consumers that “big oil” would work hard to stop the growth of clean renewable fuels to protect their ‘gravy train’. This battle revolves around the Renewable Fuel Standard, a law requiring refiners to buy alternative fuels made from corn, soybeans and other products to reduce the country’s dependence on foreign oil. A law that many oil companies want blocked or ended all together.