WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rob Benedict, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) Vice President of Petrochemicals & Midstream, today released the following statement on the recently reintroduced Break Free from Plastic Pollution Act.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - This is a poorly devised bill that runs contrary to its purported purpose of improving the global environment. Banning the export of U.S. manufactured petrochemicals and polymers is shortsighted and will negatively impact global supply chains for essential materials and products.
Restricting exports would be a major unforced error for the President, tightening global fuel supplies, throttling U.S. fuel production and increasing costs for American consumers. Likewise, imposing product inventory requirements boils down to siphoning gasoline and diesel into storage, and away from consumers.
Oil markets are famously sensitive to uncertainty. Global conflict can send prices higher on concerns that crude oil supplies could be disrupted. This is playing out in response to Russia’s unprovoked acts of war against Ukraine. Russia is a major supplier of crude oil and other energy products globally, though less so in the United States. In recent days, many market participants have committed to stop purchasing Russian oil. Shipping companies are concerned about loading cargoes from Russia and some shippers are finding the cost associated with such cargoes too high. These moves are tightening an already tight market.
With recent plastic waste legislation from New York and New Jersey making headlines, we sat down with AFPM Senior Director of Petrochemicals, Transportation and Infrastructure Rob Benedict to discuss the petrochemical industry’s role in reducing plastic waste, new technological breakthroughs and how AFPM analyzes plastic waste policy proposals.
Although President Obama’s controversial Clean Power Plan (CPP) has been debated at length for several months, its legal failings finally came under the microscope during oral argument in W Virginia et al. v EPA et al. in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals on September 27.
The beginning of fall once again marks the start of another school year filled with endless possibilities for wide-eyed students eager to learn. For AFPM, the beginning of the school year is yet...
WASHINGTON, D.C. – This decision by the Canadian government to designate plastic manufactured items as “toxic” is unwarranted and not based in science.
AFPM welcomes the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) efforts in developing a Draft National Strategy to Prevent Plastic Pollution, but consistent with comments submitted to the Agency, we urge a revision of their strategy. To prevent plastic pollution, we encourage EPA to embrace policies that enable, not hinder, a circular economy for plastics where we use a range of technologies and strategies to recover post-consumer plastic and transform it back into usable materials.