Decarbonizing heavy trucks and airplanes, which will continue to rely on liquid fuels for the foreseeable future, once seemed a distant dream. That is changing thanks to innovation and investment from America’s fuel refiners, which are manufacturing renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuels that cut carbon emissions by as much as 80 percent.
Ethylene, a key building block in plastic and vital to our country’s manufacturing industry, has been thrust into the spotlight due to Hurricane Harvey’s impact on its production process.
As American manufacturers champion their contributions to economic competitiveness and product innovation today, the industry has yet another reason to celebrate – U.S. manufacturing employment is still on the rise.
A nationwide 95 RON octane standard for vehicles can deliver major carbon reductions in the nation’s light-duty auto fleet faster and at a lower cost than any other proposal being considered by policymakers right now, especially policies seeking to force nationwide vehicle electrification.
COVID-19 upended energy markets. Demand disappeared and producers scaled back. Now that economies are reopening, and the demand for goods and services is rebounding, the demand for energy all along the supply chain is increasing, driving up not only the cost of the feedstocks and fuels refineries and petrochemical manufacturers use, but also the cost of the energy used at every step of the supply chain.
Last week, California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones launched the latest salvo in his relentless crusade to coerce the nation’s leading insurance companies to divest from oil and natural gas company holdings.
The California Air Resources Board (CARB) adopted its Advanced Clean Cars II (ACCII) regulation. ACCII requires 35% of light-duty vehicle sales to qualify as “zero emission” by 2026 and 100% by 2035. Essentially, this amounts to a ban on new sales of traditional gasoline and diesel-powered cars and trucks. To implement the policy, California will need a Clean Air Act waiver from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). If EPA grants the waiver, millions of Americans—including many outside of California—could lose the option to buy the car or truck THEY want.
AFPM opposes the Inflation Reduction Act as written. We evaluated the bill against our core principles, specifically whether the legislation would support strong U.S. refining and petrochemical industries and whether it pursued emissions reductions in a market-based and cost-effective manner. Unfortunately, the IRA falls short of these goals.
AFPM asked collegiate teams to create an original video highlighting the career opportunities within the fuel refining and petrochemical manufacturers industries in addition to showing the benefits our industries provide to everyday lives.
AFPM Senior Director of Fuels and Vehicle Policy, Patrick Kelly, testified during the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) public hearing on the proposed Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) “Set” Rule. EPA’s proposal will stifle advanced biofuels, promote first generation biofuels beyond the market’s ability to absorb them and shift overall RFS growth away from liquid biofuels and into the power electricity sector. This is completely contrary to how congress envisioned EPA’s handling of the program.
