Mowing lawns is a summertime rite of passage in America, providing young people with experience pitching their business to neighbors, keeping a work schedule, and making and managing money—from purchasing the gasoline that fuels the operation, to budgeting for the oils and lubricants that keep a mower’s engine and blades running smoothly.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) supports President Trump’s Executive Orders that will create clear pathways for the permitting process and support energy infrastructure development.
U.S. refiners and petrochemical manufacturers were encouraged on April 10 when President Trump signed an executive order that will better clarify the roles of federal and state agencies in permitting decisions for energy infrastructure, including oil and natural gas pipelines.
AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson this week submitted comments to leaders of the House Transportation & Infrastructure Committee after the Committee’s inaugural hearing on the state of U.S. transportation infrastructure and supply chains failed to include customer perspectives.
In a tight refined product market it has been U.S. refiners that have stepped up. Our industry ran full-out for most of 2022 making sure American consumers, our domestic economic centers and our allies had enough gasoline, diesel and jet fuel to keep everyone moving. Our refining sector leads the world in liquid fuel production and is effectively doing more than any other to bring better balance to the global market.
Publicly owned companies, like many U.S. refineries, have a fiduciary responsibility (which is a legal obligation) to act in the best interest of their shareholders, and that extends to how companies spend their earnings. Often, earnings are spent on a combination of the following: direct dividends, stock buy back programs, paying down debt and capital investment projects.
AFPM President and CEO Chet Thompson issued the following statement in response to President Biden’s State of the Union address: "Using the State of the Union to politicize market fundamentals and single out stock “buy back” programs—while overlooking the fact that the Biden administration’s own policies discourage the reinvestment of earnings back into the U.S. liquid fuel supply chain—cheapens the dialog for everyone."
Transportation safety is a shared responsibility and a range of stakeholders play a part, including rail shippers, rail workers, the railroads (or rail carriers) and well-prepared emergency responders. AFPM members, as shippers, control the tank cars and rail cars we own up to the point when we hand them over to the railroads.
Eight midwestern governors have petitioned the EPA seeking to opt their states out of the federal 1-pound Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) waiver which is a requirement to sell the current summertime blend of E10 gasoline. If these requests are granted, the E10 gasoline currently sold in most of the country during summer months will no longer be offered for sale in these states and annual costs to introduce a new gasoline bend will range from $500-$800 million each year.
AFPM Senior Director of Fuels & Vehicle Policy Patrick Kelly today issued the following statement on EPA's announcement that it will grant requests from eight Midwestern states to remove the 1.0 psi RVP waiver from summertime gasoline effective next year. If implemented, these states will no longer be able to sell the current blend of summertime gasoline and a new grade of gasoline will need to be manufactured and supplied to the region.