Marketing & Communications Marketing & Communications

New TV Ad Hails RFS as Economic Driver, Asks EPA:
Why Mess With Success?

By Jennifer Elks | Published 10 years ago | About a 3 minute read

With the open comment period on the proposed EPA rule to roll back the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) coming to a close on January 28, Americans United for Change (AUFC) is launching its next in a series of TV ads asking rural Americans to join the final push to overwhelm Washington with comments in support of the RFS, family farmers and rural economies — and against another subsidy giveaway to Big Oil. The ad, called “Why Mess With Success” — which began airing today in Washington DC, Cedar Rapids, IA, and the Quad Cities — argues that the RFS has been invaluable for rural economies in the last decade, creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and billions in new wealth while saving consumers millions at the pump, which is why it makes no sense to change course by gutting the RFS.

As in Americans United’s previous TV ad in support of the RFS called “Simple Choice,” which aired in the Des Moines area in December, the latest ad encourages viewers to visit SavetheRFS.com operated by Americans United ally VoteVets.org, the 360,000+ supporter veterans group, and co-sign a comment that will be delivered to the EPA about the importance of renewable fuels. VoteVets.org aired two recent TV ads of their own in support of the RFS, which can be seen here and here.

“While the U.S. economy has been on a wild ride the last decade, rural communities that seized opportunities in the renewable fuels industry have seen nothing but growth, new jobs, new wealth, and more reasons for their children to stay,” said AUFC president Brad Woodhouse. “That’s why the choice before the EPA should be an easy one: Either continue to go forward, creating thousands of jobs that can’t be outsourced and revitalizing rural economies, or backward. Either continue going forward weaning the nation off its addiction to overseas oil, or backwards. Continue making innovations in next-generation renewable fuel sources that will build on its success of meeting 10 percent of the nation’s fuel needs, or discourage it.

“At this 11th hour, it is critical that the millions of Americans who have benefited from the RFS — from farmers to businesses that serve ethanol industry workers, to consumers — tell the EPA what’s at stake for them if Big Oil’s bottom line is put ahead of rural America,” Woodhouse said.

In November, the EPA relaxed the proposed levels of ethanol use outlined in the RFS to address the “E10 blend wall.” The new proposal set ethanol use at 15.21 billion gallons — just under 10 percent of motor-fuel consumption and 16 percent lower than targets established by Congress in 2007 — and also called for public input on the levels of renewable fuels to be blended into gasoline and diesel.