II 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 859 

To require the Secretary of Energy to award funds to study the feasibility 

of constructing dedicated ethanol pipelines to increase the energy, economic, and environmental security of the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 13, 2007 

Mr. HARKIN (for himself and Mr. LUGAR) introduced the following bill; which 

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural 

Resources 

A BILL 

To require the Secretary of Energy to award funds to study 

the feasibility of constructing dedicated ethanol pipelines 

to increase the energy, economic, and environmental security of the United States, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Ethanol Infrastructure 

5 Expansion Act of 2007’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) it is in the national interest to make greater 

2 use of ethanol in transportation fuels; 

3 (2) ethanol is a clean, renewable fuel that pro4 vides public health benefits in the form of reduced 

5 emissions, including reduced greenhouse gas emis6 sions that cause climate change; 

7 (3) ethanol use provides economic gains to agri8 cultural producers, biofuels producers, and rural 

9 areas; 

10 (4) ethanol use benefits the national security of 

11 the United States by displacing the use of petro12 leum, much of which is imported from foreign coun13 tries that are hostile to the United States; 

14 (5) ethanol can reduce prices at the pump for 

15 motoring consumers by extending fuel supplies and 

16 due to the competitive cost of ethanol relative to 

17 conventional gasoline; 

18 (6) ethanol faces shipping challenges in pipe19 lines that transport other liquid transportation fuels; 

20 (7) currently ethanol is shipped by rail tanker 

21 cars, barges, and trucks, all of which could, as eth22 anol production expands, encounter capacity limits 

23 due to competing use demands for the rail tanker 

24 cars, barges, and trucks; 


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1 (8) as the United States ethanol market ex2 pands in the coming years there is likely to be a 

3 need for dedicated ethanol pipelines to transport eth4 anol from the Midwest, where ethanol generally is 

5 produced, to the Eastern and Western United 

6 States; 

7 (9) as of the date of enactment of this Act, 

8 dedicated ethanol pipelines do not exist in the 

9 United States and will be challenging to construct, 

10 at least initially; 

11 (10) Brazil has already shown that ethanol can 

12 be shipped effectively via pipeline; and 

13 (11) having an ethanol pipeline study completed 

14 in the very near term is important because the con15 struction of 1 or more dedicated ethanol pipelines 

16 would take at least several years to complete. 

17 SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY. 

18 In this Act, the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Sec19 retary of Energy. 

20 SEC. 4. FEASIBILITY STUDIES. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, in coordination 

22 with the Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of 

23 Transportation, shall spend up to $1,000,000 to fund fea24 sibility studies for the construction of dedicated ethanol 

25 pipelines. 


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1 (b) CONDUCT OF STUDIES.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall— 

3 (A) through a competitive solicitation proc4 ess, select 1 or more firms having capabilities in 

5 the planning, development, and construction of 

6 dedicated ethanol pipelines to carry out the fea7 sibility studies described in subsection (a); or 

8 (B) carry out the feasibility studies in con9 junction with such firms. 

10 (2) TIMING.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary elects 

12 to select 1 or more firms under paragraph 

13 (1)(A), the Secretary shall award funding under 

14 this section not later than 120 days after the 

15 date of enactment of this Act. 

16 (B) STUDIES.—As a condition of receiving 

17 funds under this section, a recipient of funding 

18 shall agree to submit to the Secretary a com19 pleted feasibility study not later than 360 days 

20 after the date of enactment of this Act. 

21 (c) STUDY FACTORS.—Feasibility studies funded 

22 under this Act shall include consideration of— 

23 (1) existing or potential barriers to dedicated 

24 ethanol pipelines, including technical, siting, financ25 ing, and regulatory barriers; 


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1 (2) potential evolutionary pathways for the de2 velopment of an ethanol pipeline transport system, 

3 such as starting with localized gathering networks as 

4 compared to major interstate ethanol pipelines to 

5 carry larger volumes from the Midwest to the East 

6 or West coast; 

7 (3) market risk, including throughput risk, and 

8 ways of mitigating the risk; 

9 (4) regulatory, financing, and siting options 

10 that would mitigate risk in these areas and help en11 sure the construction of dedicated ethanol pipelines; 

12 (5) financial incentives that may be necessary 

13 for the construction of dedicated ethanol pipelines, 

14 including the return on equity that sponsors of the 

15 first dedicated ethanol pipelines will require to invest 

16 in the pipelines; 

17 (6) ethanol production of 20,000,000,000, 

18 30,000,000,000, and 40,000,000,000 gallons per 

19 year by 2020; and 

20 (7) such other factors that the Secretary con21 siders to be appropriate. 

22 (d) CONFIDENTIALITY.—If a recipient of funding 

23 under this section requests confidential treatment for crit24 ical energy infrastructure information or commercially25 sensitive data contained in a feasibility study submitted 


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1 by the recipient under subsection (b)(2)(B), the Secretary 

2 shall offer to enter into a confidentiality agreement with 

3 the recipient to maintain the confidentiality of the sub4 mitted information. 

5 (e) REVIEW; REPORT.—The Secretary shall— 

6 (1) review the feasibility studies submitted 

7 under subsection (b)(2)(B) or carried out under sub8 section (b)(1)(B); and 

9 (2) not later than 15 months after the date of 

10 enactment of this Act, submit to Congress a report 

11 that includes— 

12 (A) information about the potential bene13 fits of constructing dedicated ethanol pipelines; 

14 and 

15 (B) recommendations for legislation that 

16 could help provide for the construction of dedi17 cated ethanol pipelines. 

18 SEC. 5. FUNDING. 

19 There is authorized to be appropriated to the Sec20 retary to carry out this Act $1,000,000 for fiscal year 

21 2008, to remain available until expended. 

Æ 


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