I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1476 

To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less than 80 percent 

of the automobiles manufactured or sold in the United States by each 

such manufacturer to operate on fuel mixtures containing 85 percent 

ethanol, 85 percent methanol, or biodiesel. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 12, 2009 

Mr. ENGEL (for himself, Mr. INGLIS, Mr. ISRAEL, and Mr. BARTLETT) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy 

and Commerce 

A BILL 

To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less 

than 80 percent of the automobiles manufactured or 

sold in the United States by each such manufacturer 

to operate on fuel mixtures containing 85 percent ethanol, 85 percent methanol, or biodiesel. 

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 ‘‘Open Fuel Standard 

5 Act of 2009’’ or the ‘‘OFS Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 

2 (a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find3 ings: 

4 (1) The status of oil as a strategic commodity, 

5 which derives from its domination of the transpor6 tation sector, presents a clear and present danger to 

7 the United States; 

8 (2) in a prior era, when salt was a strategic 

9 commodity, salt mines conferred national power and 

10 wars were fought over the control of such mines; 

11 (3) technology, in the form of electricity and re12 frigeration, decisively ended salt’s monopoly of meat 

13 preservation and greatly reduced its strategic impor14 tance; 

15 (4) fuel competition and consumer choice would 

16 similarly serve to end oil’s monopoly in the transpor17 tation sector and strip oil of its strategic status; 

18 (5) the current closed fuel market has allowed 

19 a cartel of petroleum exporting countries to inflate 

20 fuel prices, effectively imposing a harmful tax on the 

21 economy of the United States; 

22 (6) much of the inflated petroleum revenues the 

23 oil cartel earns at the expense of the people of the 

24 United States are used for purposes antithetical to 

25 the interests of the United States and its allies; 


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1 (7) alcohol fuels, including ethanol and meth2 anol, could potentially provide significant supplies of 

3 additional fuels that could be produced in the United 

4 States and in many other countries in the Western 

5 Hemisphere that are friendly to the United States; 

6 (8) alcohol fuels can only play a major role in 

7 securing the energy independence of the United 

8 States if a substantial portion of vehicles in the 

9 United States are capable of operating on such fuels; 

10 (9) it is not in the best interest of United 

11 States consumers or the United States Government 

12 to be constrained to depend solely upon petroleum 

13 resources for vehicle fuels if alcohol fuels are poten14 tially available; 

15 (10) existing technology, in the form of flexible 

16 fuel vehicles, allows internal combustion engine cars 

17 and trucks to be produced at little or no additional 

18 cost, which are capable of operating on conventional 

19 gasoline, alcohol fuels, or any combination of such 

20 fuels, as availability or cost advantage dictates, pro21 viding a platform on which fuels can compete; 

22 (11) the necessary distribution system for such 

23 alcohol fuels will not be developed in the United 

24 States until a substantial fraction of the vehicles in 


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1 the United States are capable of operating on such 

2 fuels; 

3 (12) the establishment of such a vehicle fleet 

4 and distribution system would provide a large mar5 ket that would mobilize private resources to substan6 tially advance the technology and expand the pro7 duction of alcohol fuels in the United States and 

8 abroad; 

9 (13) the United States has an urgent national 

10 security interest to develop alcohol fuels technology, 

11 production, and distribution systems as rapidly as 

12 possible; 

13 (14) new cars sold in the United States that 

14 are equipped with an internal combustion engine 

15 should allow for fuel competition by being flexible 

16 fuel vehicles, and new diesel cars should be capable 

17 of operating on biodiesel; and 

18 (15) such an open fuel standard would help to 

19 protect the United States economy from high and 

20 volatile oil prices and from the threats caused by 

21 global instability, terrorism, and natural disaster. 

22 SEC. 3. OPEN FUEL STANDARD FOR TRANSPORTATION. 

23 Chapter 329 of title 49, United States Code, is 

24 amended by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 32920. OPEN FUEL STANDARD FOR TRANSPOR2 TATION. 

3 ‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 

4 ‘‘(1) E85.—The term ‘E85’ means a fuel mix5 ture containing 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent 

6 gasoline by volume. 

7 ‘‘(2) FLEXIBLE FUEL AUTOMOBILE.—The term 

8 ‘flexible fuel automobile’ means an automobile that 

9 has been warranted by its manufacturer to operate 

10 on gasoline, E85, and M85. 

11 ‘‘(3) FUEL CHOICE-ENABLING AUTOMOBILE.— 

12 The term ‘fuel choice-enabling automobile’ means— 

13 ‘‘(A) a flexible fuel automobile; or 

14 ‘‘(B) an automobile that has been war15 ranted by its manufacturer to operate on bio16 diesel. 

17 ‘‘(4) LIGHT-DUTY AUTOMOBILE.—The term 

18 ‘light-duty automobile’ means— 

19 ‘‘(A) a passenger automobile; or 

20 ‘‘(B) a non-passenger automobile. 

21 ‘‘(5) LIGHT-DUTY AUTOMOBILE MANUFAC22 TURER’S ANNUAL COVERED INVENTORY.—The term 

23 ‘light-duty automobile manufacturer’s annual cov24 ered inventory’ means the number of light-duty 

25 automobiles powered by an internal combustion en26 gine that a manufacturer, during a given calendar 


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1 year, manufactures in the United States or imports 

2 from outside of the United States for sale in the 

3 United States. 

4 ‘‘(6) M85.—The term ‘M85’ means a fuel mix5 ture containing 85 percent methanol and 15 percent 

6 gasoline by volume. 

7 ‘‘(b) OPEN FUEL STANDARD FOR TRANSPOR8 TATION.— 

9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para10 graph (2), each light-duty automobile manufactur11 er’s annual covered inventory shall be comprised 

12 of— 

13 ‘‘(A) not less than 50 percent fuel choice14 enabling automobiles in 2012, 2013, and 2014; 

15 and 

16 ‘‘(B) not less than 80 percent fuel choice17 enabling automobiles in 2015, and in each sub18 sequent year. 

19 ‘‘(2) TEMPORARY EXEMPTION FROM REQUIRE20 MENTS.— 

21 ‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—A manufacturer may 

22 request an exemption from the requirement de23 scribed in paragraph (1) by submitting an ap24 plication to the Secretary, at such time, in such 

25 manner, and containing such information as the 


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1 Secretary may require by regulation. Each such 

2 application shall specify the models, lines, and 

3 types of automobiles affected. 

4 ‘‘(B) EVALUATION.—After evaluating an 

5 application received from a manufacturer, the 

6 Secretary may at any time, under such terms 

7 and conditions, and to such extent as the Sec8 retary considers appropriate, temporarily ex9 empt, or renew the exemption of, a light-duty 

10 automobile from the requirement described in 

11 paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines that 

12 unavoidable events not under the control of the 

13 manufacturer prevent the manufacturer of such 

14 automobile from meeting its required produc15 tion volume of fuel choice-enabling automobiles, 

16 including— 

17 ‘‘(i) a disruption in the supply of any 

18 component required for compliance with 

19 the regulations; 

20 ‘‘(ii) a disruption in the use and in21 stallation by the manufacturer of such 

22 component; or 

23 ‘‘(iii) application to plug-in electric ve24 hicles causing such vehicles to fail to meet 

25 State air quality requirements. 


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1 ‘‘(C) CONSOLIDATION.—The Secretary 

2 may consolidate applications received from mul3 tiple manufacturers under subparagraph (A) if 

4 they are of a similar nature. 

5 ‘‘(D) CONDITIONS.—Any exemption grant6 ed under subparagraph (B) shall be conditioned 

7 upon the manufacturer’s commitment to recall 

8 the exempted automobiles for installation of the 

9 omitted components within a reasonable time 

10 proposed by the manufacturer and approved by 

11 the Secretary after such components become 

12 available in sufficient quantities to satisfy both 

13 anticipated production and recall volume re14 quirements. 

15 ‘‘(E) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall pub16 lish in the Federal Register— 

17 ‘‘(i) notice of each application received 

18 from a manufacturer; 

19 ‘‘(ii) notice of each decision to grant 

20 or deny a temporary exemption; and 

21 ‘‘(iii) the reasons for granting or de22 nying such exemptions. 

23 ‘‘(3) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year 

24 after the date of enactment of this Act, the SecVerDate Nov 24 2008 04:32 Mar 14, 2009 Jkt 079200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H1476.IH H1476

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1 retary of Transportation shall promulgate regula2 tions to carry out this section.’’. 

Æ 


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