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T he end of 2014 delivered two powerful shocks to the transportation fuels sector. First, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries refused to decrease production to offset reduced demand, leading to the lowest oil prices in years. Then, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced it would finish the year without setting annual federal renewable fuels volume requirements for gasoline and diesel distribu- tors. Those burning energy issues, among others, were the hot topics at the annual National Biodiesel Conference and Expo January 19—22 at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Attendance surpassed 900 biodiesel industry leaders. "President Obama has declared an all-of-the-above energy policy and made addressing climate change a priority," said Joe Jobe, CEO of the National Biodiesel Board, as he kicked off the opening session. "The RFS has demonstrated success in contributing to both those top priority goals. It is our goal for 2015 to get the RFS back on track." While acknowledging the biodiesel industry has many friends and good working relationships among oil producers, he stated that RFS opponents have distorted the record of renewable fuels, as well as made alarming predictions for the program—predictions that have proven wildly inaccurate. As a result, he said, the implementation of effective policy has been consistently damaged by their misleading rhetoric. In one example, Jobe pointed to a 2012 study by the American Petroleum Institute that predicted that biodiesel requirements under the RFS would result in a "Diesel Death Spiral" that would increase diesel fuel costs to about $15 per gallon in 2014 and $70 in 2015. Their predictions proved to be wildly incorrect, he stated, yet they continue to site the flawed study. "Sensationalist tabloid headlines have no place in serious pub- lic policy debate – it makes for bad public policy," Jobe said. Now, Jobe said, some in the petroleum industry claim that America has achieved energy independence thanks to fracking of shale oil in Texas and North Dakota and from strip mining of Canadian Tar Sands. However, the fallout from the deci- sion not to decrease production by OPEC has demonstrated once again the fallacy of that argument. Since OPEC's Thanksgiving decision, an already glutted fuel market became flooded in oil from Saudi Arabia and other members of their international cartel, driving prices so low they threaten to bankrupt the domestic fracking industry. With a trillion dollars in reserves and production costs less than $6 per barrel, "The Saudis can outlast all their com- petitors," Jobe said. "This is what monopolies and cartels do. They use anti-competitive tactics to raise, or in this case lower prices to squeeze competitors and alternatives out of the mar- ket. Then they increase prices to maximize their profits." That's why the RFS is such a critical policy, Jobe said. Only by diversifying the transportation fuels market and providing competition to crude oil can the United States truly achieve energy security, he explained. LegisLative OutLOOk In a session on Jan. 21, Anne Steckel, National Biodiesel Board vice president of federal affairs, encouraged the biod- iesel conference attendees to explain the importance of the advanced biofuel industry to the Obama administration and Congress. "We're already writing our own script for 2015," she said. "We do that by building our strengths, and redoubling our efforts across grassroots advocacy, coalition building and pub- lic outreach—to make our case, loud, clear and consistently. "We do that by strengthening our collective voice—getting more members involved, and empowering you to advocate for yourselves—because we can't do it without you," she continued. FUELS The 2015 National Biodiesel Conference and Expo A continued push for action in Washington, and some well-deserved awards NBB CEO Joe Jobe 14 March 2015 | FUEL OIL NEWS | www.fueloilnews.com