Chuck Grassley: “these draft reports produced by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Transportation Technologies will further…”

“these draft reports produced by the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Transportation Technologies will further expose inaccuracies of these contentions that renewable fuel standard will increase the cost of motor fuel. As these reports conclude, the opposite is the truth. The first draft is entitled ``Oil Price Benefits of Increasing Replacement/Alternative Fuel Market Share.'' The second draft is entitled ``The Impacts of Alternative and Replacement Fuel Use on Oil Prices.'' Allow me to read excerpts for my colleagues. The very first sentence of the first draft states: Increasing the market share of alternative and replacement transportation fuels would have significant energy security and oil market benefits for the United States. This Department of Energy analysis states further: First, by reducing the quantity of petroleum consumed and imported, they reduce the vulnerability of the economy to oil price shocks. The economic analysis continues with a second point. By increasing the price responsiveness of oil demand, they reduce the market power of the OPEC cartel, making it more difficult for OPEC to raise prices and to sustain these prices. It is very obvious that should be our goal--that is our goal. Do we not want to reduce the market power of OPEC? Do we not want to make it more difficult for OPEC to raise prices?”