From Houston Chronicle
WASHINGTON – House Republicans are pushing to eliminate the federal mandate that ethanol be blended into the nation’s fuel supply, to be replaced by a requirement cars built from 2023 on run only on gasoline with a minimum octane level of 95.
In legislation under debate at a hearing Tuesday, the EPA would stop requiring ethanol blending in 2032. But in the meantime the new octane requirement is being pitched as a fuel-neutral mechanism that would retain demand for ethanol into the future while improving car efficiency.
“We have to put consumers and the environment first, not our own self interests,” said Rep. Bill Flores, R-Waco, one of the sponsors of the legislation, titled the 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act. “Either we can go with the status quo that everyone says is broken or have a compromise solution. There’s not going to be a solution that makes everyone 100 percent happy.”
Under the current law, the EPA would take over the Renewable Fuel Standard in 2022 with authority to reduce the ethanol mandate first set by Congress in 2005.
But the various industries with stakes in the nation’s fuel supply remain deeply at odds. At Tuesday’s hearing representatives from the refining and ethanol sectors agreed the Republican legislation was unworkable.
Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers, which represents oil refineries, objected to a provision in the law raising the ethanol mandate to 15 billion gallons a year, until it disappears in the 2032.
“While AFPM is unable to support the discussion draft in its current form, we do recognize that it gets some issues right,” he said.
Geoff Cooper, president of the Renewable Fuels Association, which represents ethanol producers, objected to the elimination of the Renewable Fuel Standard.
“[The legislation] falls short of providing the future market certainty and growth our industry needs,” he said.
With only a matter of weeks left in this Congress, the legislation is expected to be a starting point for when a new Democratic majority in the House takes their seat in January.
With the current mandate set to run out in four years, Republicans urged industry to work together now to avoid the EPA deciding their fate.
“The current law is unworkable,” said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis. ” Don’t kid yourself. If we throw all this to whoever’s running EPA, they don’t have any magic wands over there to bring order from chaos.”
