I 

108TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2136

To amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit the use of methyl tertiary butyl 

ether as a gasoline additive and to repeal the oxygenate requirement 

for reformulated gasoline, to provide funding for the clean up of underground storage tanks, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 15, 2003

Mr. KING of New York (for himself and Mr. ENGEL) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

To amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit the use of methyl 

tertiary butyl ether as a gasoline additive and to repeal 

the oxygenate requirement for reformulated gasoline, to 

provide funding for the clean up of underground storage 

tanks, and for other purposes.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. MTBE PROHIBITION. 

4 (a) MTBE PROHIBITION.—Section 211(c) of the 

5 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(c)) is amended by adding 

6 at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(5) PROHIBITION ON USE OF MTBE.—
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1 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Subject to subpara2 graph (C), not later than 6 months after the 

3 date of enactment of this paragraph, the use of 

4 methyl tertiary butyl ether in motor vehicle fuel 

5 in any State is prohibited. 

6 ‘‘(B) REGULATIONS.—The Administrator 

7 shall promulgate regulations to carry out the 

8 prohibition set forth in subparagraph (A). 

9 ‘‘(C) TRACE QUANTITIES.—In carrying out 

10 subparagraph (A), the Administrator may allow 

11 trace quantities of methyl tertiary butyl ether, 

12 not to exceed 0.5 percent by volume, to be 

13 present in motor vehicle fuel in cases that the 

14 Administrator determines to be appropriate.’’. 

15 (b) NO EFFECT ON LAW CONCERNING STATE AU16 THORITY.—The amendments made by subsection (a) have 

17 no effect on the law in effect on the day before the date 

18 of enactment of this Act regarding the authority of States 

19 to limit the use of methyl tertiary butyl ether in motor 

20 vehicle fuel. 

21 SEC. 2. ELIMINATION OF OXYGEN CONTENT REQUIREMENT 

22 FOR REFORMULATED GASOLINE. 

23 (a) REPEAL.—Section 211(k) of the Clean Air Act 

24 (42 U.S.C. 7545(k)) is amended—

25 (1) in paragraph (2)—
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1 (A) in the second sentence of subpara2 graph (A), by striking ‘‘(including the oxygen 

3 content requirement contained in subparagraph 

4 (B))’’; 

5 (B) by striking subparagraph (B); and 

6 (C) by redesignating subparagraphs (C) 

7 and (D) as subparagraphs (B) and (C), respec8 tively; 

9 (2) in paragraph (3)(A), by striking clause (v); 

10 (3) in paragraph (7)—

11 (A) in subparagraph (A)—

12 (i) by striking clause (i); and 

13 (ii) by redesignating clauses (ii) and 

14 (iii) as clauses (i) and (ii), respectively; 

15 and 

16 (B) in subparagraph (C)—

17 (i) by striking clause (ii); and 

18 (ii) by redesignating clause (iii) as 

19 clause (ii). 

20 (b) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

21 subsection (a) shall take effect on the date of enactment 

22 of this Act. 

23 (c) MAINTENANCE OF TOXIC AIR POLLUTANT EMIS24 SION REDUCTIONS.—Section 211(k)(1) of the Clean Air 

25 Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(k)(1)) is amended as follows: 
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1 (1) By striking ‘‘Within 1 year after the enact2 ment of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,’’ 

3 and inserting the following: 

4 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Not later than No5 vember 15, 1991,’’. 

6 (2) By adding at the end the following: 

7 ‘‘(B) MAINTENANCE OF TOXIC AIR POL8 LUTANT EMISSIONS REDUCTIONS FROM REFOR9 MULATED GASOLINE.—

10 ‘‘(i) DEFINITIONS.—In this subpara11 graph the term ‘PADD’ means a Petro12 leum Administration for Defense District. 

13 ‘‘(ii) REGULATIONS REGARDING EMIS14 SIONS OF TOXIC AIR POLLUTANTS.—Not 

15 later than 270 days after the date of en16 actment of this subparagraph the Adminis17 trator shall establish, for each refinery or 

18 importer, standards for toxic air pollutants 

19 from use of the reformulated gasoline pro20 duced or distributed by the refinery or im21 porter that maintain the reduction of the 

22 average annual aggregate emissions of 

23 toxic air pollutants for reformulated gaso24 line produced or distributed by the refinery 

25 or importer during calendar years 1999 
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1 and 2000, determined on the basis of data 

2 collected by the Administrator with respect 

3 to the refinery or importer. 

4 ‘‘(iii) STANDARDS APPLICABLE TO

5 SPECIFIC REFINERIES OR IMPORTERS.—

6 ‘‘(I) APPLICABILITY OF STAND7 ARDS.—For any calendar year, the 

8 standards applicable to a refinery or 

9 importer under clause (ii) shall apply 

10 to the quantity of gasoline produced 

11 or distributed by the refinery or im12 porter in the calendar year only to the 

13 extent that the quantity is less than 

14 or equal to the average annual quan15 tity of reformulated gasoline produced 

16 or distributed by the refinery or im17 porter during calendar years 1999 

18 and 2000. 

19 ‘‘(II) APPLICABILITY OF OTHER

20 STANDARDS.—For any calendar year, 

21 the quantity of gasoline produced or 

22 distributed by a refinery or importer 

23 that is in excess of the quantity sub24 ject to subclause (I) shall be subject 

25 to standards for toxic air pollutants 
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1 promulgated under subparagraph (A) 

2 and paragraph (3)(B). 

3 ‘‘(iv) CREDIT PROGRAM.—The Admin4 istrator shall provide for the granting and 

5 use of credits for emissions of toxic air pol6 lutants in the same manner as provided in 

7 paragraph (7). 

8 ‘‘(v) REGIONAL PROTECTION OF

9 TOXICS REDUCTION BASELINES.—

10 ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Not later 

11 than 60 days after the date of enact12 ment of this subparagraph, and not 

13 later than April 1 of each calendar 

14 year that begins after that date of en15 actment, the Administrator shall pub16 lish in the Federal Register a report 

17 that specifies, with respect to the pre18 vious calendar year—

19 ‘‘(aa) the quantity of refor20 mulated gasoline produced that is 

21 in excess of the average annual 

22 quantity of reformulated gasoline 

23 produced in 1999 and 2000; and 

24 ‘‘(bb) the reduction of the 

25 average annual aggregate emis-
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1 sions of toxic air pollutants in 

2 each PADD, based on retail sur3 vey data or data from other ap4 propriate sources. 

5 ‘‘(II) EFFECT OF FAILURE TO

6 MAINTAIN AGGREGATE TOXICS RE7 DUCTIONS.—If, in any calendar year, 

8 the reduction of the average annual 

9 aggregate emissions of toxic air pol10 lutants in a PADD fails to meet or 

11 exceed the reduction of the average 

12 annual aggregate emissions of toxic 

13 air pollutants in the PADD in cal14 endar years 1999 and 2000, the Ad15 ministrator, not later than 90 days 

16 after the date of publication of the re17 port for the calendar year under sub18 clause (I), shall—

19 ‘‘(aa) identify, to the max20 imum extent practicable, the rea21 sons for the failure, including the 

22 sources, volumes, and character23 istics of reformulated gasoline 

24 that contributed to the failure; 

25 and 
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1 ‘‘(bb) promulgate revisions 

2 to the regulations promulgated 

3 under clause (ii), to take effect 

4 not earlier than 180 days but not 

5 later than 270 days after the 

6 date of promulgation, to provide 

7 that, notwithstanding clause 

8 (iii)(II), all reformulated gasoline 

9 produced or distributed at each 

10 refinery or importer shall meet 

11 the standards applicable under 

12 clause (ii) not later than April 1 

13 of the year following the report 

14 in subclause (II) and for subse15 quent years. 

16 ‘‘(vi) REGULATIONS TO CONTROL

17 HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS FROM

18 MOTOR VEHICLES AND MOTOR VEHICLE

19 FUELS.—Not later than July 1, 2004, the 

20 Administrator shall promulgate final regu21 lations to control hazardous air pollutants 

22 from motor vehicles and motor vehicle 

23 fuels, as provided for in section 80.1045 of 

24 title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (as 
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1 in effect on the date of enactment of this 

2 subparagraph).’’. 

3 (d) CONSOLIDATION IN REFORMULATED GASOLINE

4 REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

5 of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Envi6 ronmental Protection Agency shall revise the reformulated 

7 gasoline regulations under subpart D of part 80 of title 

8 40, Code of Federal Regulations, to consolidate the regula9 tions applicable to VOC–Control Regions 1 and 2 under 

10 section 80.41 of that title by eliminating the less stringent 

11 requirements applicable to gasoline designated for VOC–

12 Control Region 2 and instead applying the more stringent 

13 requirements applicable to gasoline designated for VOC–

14 Control Region 1. 

15 (e) SAVINGS CLAUSE.—Nothing in this section is in16 tended to affect or prejudice either any legal claims or ac17 tions with respect to regulations promulgated by the Ad18 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency prior 

19 to enactment of this Act regarding emissions of toxic air 

20 pollutants from motor vehicles or the adjustment of stand21 ards applicable to a specific refinery or importer made 

22 under such prior regulations and the Administrator may 

23 apply such adjustments to the standards applicable to 

24 such refinery or importer under clause (iii)(I) of section 

25 211(k)(1)(B) of the Clean Air Act, except that—
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1 (1) the Administrator shall revise such adjust2 ments to be based only on calendar years 1999–

3 2000; and 

4 (2) for adjustments based on toxic air pollutant 

5 emissions from reformulated gasoline significantly 

6 below the national annual average emissions of toxic 

7 air pollutants from all reformulated gasoline, the 

8 Administrator may revise such adjustments to take 

9 account of the scope of any lawful and enforceable 

10 Federal or State prohibition on methyl tertiary butyl 

11 ether imposed after the effective date of the enact12 ment of this paragraph, except that any such adjust13 ment shall require such refiner or importer, to the 

14 greatest extent practicable, to maintain the reduc15 tion achieved during calendar year 1999–2000 in the 

16 average annual aggregate emissions of toxic air pol17 lutants from reformulated gasoline produced or dis18 tributed by the refinery or importer. Any such ad19 justment shall not be made at a level below the aver20 age percentage of reductions of emissions of toxic air 

21 pollutants for reformulated gasoline supplied to 

22 PADD I during calendar years 1999–2000. 

23 SEC. 3. FUNDING FOR MTBE CONTAMINATION. 

24 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, there is 

25 authorized to be appropriated to the Administrator of the 
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1 Environmental Protection Agency from the Leaking Un2 derground Storage Tank Trust Fund not more than 

3 $850,000,000 for the fiscal year period of fiscal years 

4 2004 through 2008.

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