WASHINGTON, D.C. – The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) filed comments on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed amendments to the Risk Management Program (RMP) of the Clean Air Act asking it to withdraw the proposal.
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.
AFPM recently voiced its disappointment at the decision by the U.S. Supreme Court not to hear ExxonMobil’s challenge to the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s decision to uphold a $236 million judgment against the company’s use of Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether (MTBE) in the state’s gasoline supply in the 1990s.
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.