I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 1315 

To amend the Clean Air Act to eliminate certain requirements under the 

renewable fuel program, to prohibit the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from approving the introduction into commerce 

of gasoline that contains greater than 10-volume-percent ethanol, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MARCH 2, 2017 

Mr. GOODLATTE (for himself, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WOMACK, Mr. COSTA, Mr. 

FRANKS of Arizona, Mr. LAMALFA, Mr. BRIDENSTINE, Mr. BROOKS of 

Alabama, Mr. POSEY, Mr. DENT, Mr. PITTENGER, Mr. MEADOWS, Mr. 

DEFAZIO, Mr. ROTHFUS, Mrs. COMSTOCK, Mr. GOSAR, Mr. CHAFFETZ, 

Mr. HARRIS, Mr. ROE of Tennessee, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. COLE, 

Mr. POE of Texas, Mr. LOUDERMILK, Mr. ZELDIN, Mr. PEARCE, Mr. 

WESTERMAN, Mr. CRAWFORD, Mr. COOPER, Mr. MCCAUL, Mr. ALLEN, 

Mr. BISHOP of Utah, Mr. RICHMOND, Mr. SCHWEIKERT, Mr. AMODEI, 

Mr. FARENTHOLD, Mr. SESSIONS, Mr. FLEISCHMANN, Mr. BABIN, Mr. 

GAETZ, Mr. JONES, Mr. WILLIAMS, Mr. BILIRAKIS, and Mr. AUSTIN

SCOTT of Georgia) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To amend the Clean Air Act to eliminate certain requirements under the renewable fuel program, to prohibit 

the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from approving the introduction into commerce of 

gasoline that contains greater than 10-volume-percent 

ethanol, and for other purposes. 


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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 ‘‘RFS Reform Act of 

5 2017’’. 

6 SEC. 2. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

7 The table of contents of this Act is as follows: 

Sec. 1. Short title. 

Sec. 2. Table of contents. 

TITLE I—RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD AMENDMENTS 

Sec. 101. Amendments to the Clean Air Act. 

Sec. 102. Cellulosic biofuel requirement based on actual production. 

Sec. 103. Applicability and regulations. 

TITLE II—GASOLINE CONTAINING GREATER THAN 10-VOLUMEPERCENT ETHANOL 

Sec. 201. Prohibition of gasoline blends with greater than 10-volume-percent 

ethanol. 

Sec. 202. Prohibition of waivers. 

Sec. 203. Misfueling rule. 

8 TITLE I—RENEWABLE FUEL 

9 STANDARD AMENDMENTS 

10 SEC. 101. AMENDMENTS TO THE CLEAN AIR ACT. 

11 (a) REVISED DEFINITION OF RENEWABLE FUEL.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—Section 211(o)(1)(J) of the 

13 Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(1)(J)) is amended 

14 to read as follows: 

15 ‘‘(J) RENEWABLE FUEL.—The term ‘re16 newable fuel’ means fuel that— 

17 ‘‘(i) is produced from renewable bio18 mass; 


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1 ‘‘(ii) is used to replace or reduce the 

2 quantity of fossil fuel present in a trans3 portation fuel; and 

4 ‘‘(iii) beginning on January 1, 2017, 

5 is advanced biofuel.’’. 

6 (2) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—Section 

7 211(o)(1)(B)(i) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

8 7545(o)(1)(B)(i)) is amended by striking ‘‘renewable 

9 fuel’’ and inserting ‘‘fuel described in clauses (i) and 

10 (ii) of subparagraph (J)’’. 

11 (b) APPLICABLE VOLUMES.—Section 211(o)(2)(B)(i) 

12 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(2)(B)(i)) is 

13 amended— 

14 (1) in the table in subclause (I)— 

15 (A) by striking ‘‘24.0’’ and inserting 

16 ‘‘9.0’’; 

17 (B) by striking ‘‘26.0’’ and inserting 

18 ‘‘11.0’’; 

19 (C) by striking ‘‘28.0’’ and inserting 

20 ‘‘13.0’’; 

21 (D) by striking ‘‘30.0’’ and inserting 

22 ‘‘15.0’’; 

23 (E) by striking ‘‘33.0’’ and inserting 

24 ‘‘18.0’’; and 


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1 (F) by striking ‘‘36.0’’ and inserting 

2 ‘‘21.0’’; 

3 (2) in subclause (II)— 

4 (A) in the matter preceding the table, by 

5 striking ‘‘2022’’ and inserting ‘‘2016’’; and 

6 (B) in the table, by striking the items re7 lating to calendar years 2017 through 2022; 

8 (3) in subclause (III), by striking ‘‘of the vol9 ume of advanced biofuel required under subclause 

10 (II)’’ and inserting ‘‘of the volume of advanced 

11 biofuel required for calendar years 2010 through 

12 2016 under subclause (II), as in effect on the day 

13 before the date of enactment of the RFS Reform Act 

14 of 2017, and of the volume of renewable fuel re15 quired for calendar years 2017 through 2022 under 

16 subclause (I)’’; and 

17 (4) in subclause (IV), by inserting ‘‘, as in ef18 fect on the day before the date of enactment of the 

19 RFS Reform Act of 2017’’ after ‘‘of the volume of 

20 advanced biofuel required under subclause (II)’’. 

21 (c) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

22 (1) OTHER CALENDAR YEARS.—Section 

23 211(o)(2)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

24 7545(o)(2)(B)) is amended— 


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1 (A) in clause (ii)(III), by striking ‘‘ad2 vanced biofuels in each category (cellulosic 

3 biofuel and biomass-based diesel)’’ and insert4 ing ‘‘cellulosic biofuel and biomass-based die5 sel’’; 

6 (B) by striking clause (iii); and 

7 (C) by redesignating clauses (iv) and (v) as 

8 clauses (iii) and (iv), respectively. 

9 (2) APPLICABLE PERCENT REDUCTION

10 LEVEL.—Section 211(o)(4) of the Clean Air Act (42 

11 U.S.C. 7545(o)(4)) is amended— 

12 (A) in subparagraph (E), by striking ‘‘20, 

13 50, or 60 percent reduction levels’’ and insert14 ing ‘‘applicable percent reduction level’’; and 

15 (B) in subparagraph (F), by inserting ‘‘(if 

16 applicable)’’ after ‘‘(2)(A)(i)’’. 

17 (3) WAIVERS.—Section 211(o)(7) of the Clean 

18 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(7)) is amended— 

19 (A) in subparagraph (D)(i), by inserting ‘‘, 

20 if such year is before 2017,’’ before ‘‘advanced 

21 biofuels’’; and 

22 (B) in subparagraph (E)(ii), by inserting 

23 ‘‘, if such year is before 2017,’’ before ‘‘ad24 vanced biofuels’’. 


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1 SEC. 102. CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL REQUIREMENT BASED ON 

2 ACTUAL PRODUCTION. 

3 (a) PROVISION OF ESTIMATE OF VOLUMES OF CEL4 LULOSIC BIOFUEL.—Section 211(o)(3)(A) of the Clean 

5 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(3)(A)) is amended— 

6 (1) by inserting ‘‘(i)’’ before ‘‘Not later than’’; 

7 and 

8 (2) by adding at the end the following new 

9 clause: 

10 ‘‘(ii)(I) In determining any estimate under 

11 clause (i), with respect to the following calendar 

12 year, of the projected volume of cellulosic 

13 biofuel production (as described in paragraph 

14 (7)(D)(i)), the Administrator of the Energy In15 formation Administration shall— 

16 ‘‘(aa) for each cellulosic biofuel pro17 duction facility that is producing (and con18 tinues to produce) cellulosic biofuel during 

19 the period of January 1 through October 

20 31 of the calendar year in which the esti21 mate is made (in this clause referred to as 

22 the ‘current calendar year’)— 

23 ‘‘(AA) determine the average 

24 monthly volume of cellulosic biofuel 

25 produced by such facility, based on 


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1 the actual volume produced by such 

2 facility during such period; and 

3 ‘‘(BB) based on such average 

4 monthly volume of production, deter5 mine the estimated annualized volume 

6 of cellulosic biofuel production for 

7 such facility for the current calendar 

8 year; and 

9 ‘‘(bb) for each cellulosic biofuel pro10 duction facility that begins initial produc11 tion of (and continues to produce) cellu12 losic biofuel after January 1 of the current 

13 calendar year— 

14 ‘‘(AA) determine the average 

15 monthly volume of cellulosic biofuel 

16 produced by such facility, based on 

17 the actual volume produced by such 

18 facility during the period beginning on 

19 the date of initial production of cellu20 losic biofuel by the facility and ending 

21 on October 31 of the current calendar 

22 year; and 

23 ‘‘(BB) based on such average 

24 monthly volume of production, deter25 mine the estimated annualized volume 


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1 of cellulosic biofuel production for 

2 such facility for the current calendar 

3 year. 

4 ‘‘(II) An estimate under clause (i) with re5 spect to the following calendar year of the pro6 jected volume of cellulosic biofuel production (as 

7 described in paragraph (7)(D)(i)), shall be 

8 equal to the total of the estimated annual vol9 umes of cellulosic biofuel production for all cel10 lulosic biofuel production facilities described in 

11 subclause (I) for the current calendar year.’’. 

12 (b) REDUCTION IN APPLICABLE VOLUME.—Section 

13 211(o)(7)(D)(i) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 

14 7545(o)(7)(D)(i)), as amended by section 101(c)(3)(A), is 

15 further amended by— 

16 (1) striking ‘‘based on the’’ and inserting 

17 ‘‘using the exact’’; 

18 (2) striking ‘‘may also reduce’’ and inserting 

19 ‘‘shall also reduce’’; and 

20 (3) striking ‘‘by the same or a lesser volume’’ 

21 and inserting ‘‘by the same volume’’. 

22 SEC. 103. APPLICABILITY AND REGULATIONS. 

23 The amendments made by this title to section 211(o) 

24 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)) shall apply only 

25 with respect to calendar years 2017 and after, except that 


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1 the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agen2 cy shall promulgate regulations to carry out such amend3 ments not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

4 of this Act, and take any steps necessary to ensure such 

5 amendments may be carried out for calendar years 2017 

6 and after. 

7 TITLE II—GASOLINE CON8 TAINING GREATER THAN 10- 

9 VOLUME-PERCENT ETHANOL 

10 SEC. 201. PROHIBITION OF GASOLINE BLENDS WITH 

11 GREATER THAN 10-VOLUME-PERCENT ETH12 ANOL. 

13 Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Ad14 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency may 

15 not, including by granting a waiver under section 

16 211(f)(4) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(f)(4)), au17 thorize or otherwise allow the introduction into commerce 

18 of gasoline containing greater than 10-volume-percent eth19 anol. 

20 SEC. 202. PROHIBITION OF WAIVERS. 

21 (a) IN GENERAL.—Any waiver granted under section 

22 211(f)(4) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(f)(4)) be23 fore the date of enactment of this Act that allows the in24 troduction into commerce of gasoline containing greater 


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1 than 10-volume-percent ethanol for use in motor vehicles 

2 shall have no force or effect. 

3 (b) CERTAIN WAIVERS.—The waivers described in 

4 subsection (a) include the following: 

5 (1) The waiver entitled, ‘‘Partial Grant and 

6 Partial Denial of Clean Air Act Waiver Application 

7 Submitted by Growth Energy To Increase the Allow8 able Ethanol Content of Gasoline to 15 Percent; De9 cision of the Administrator’’, 75 Fed. Reg. 68094 

10 (November 4, 2010). 

11 (2) The waiver entitled, ‘‘Partial Grant of 

12 Clean Air Act Waiver Application Submitted by 

13 Growth Energy To Increase the Allowable Ethanol 

14 Content of Gasoline to 15 Percent; Decision of the 

15 Administrator’’, 76 Fed. Reg. 4662 (January 26, 

16 2011). 

17 SEC. 203. MISFUELING RULE. 

18 The portions of the rule entitled, ‘‘Regulation to Miti19 gate the Misfueling of Vehicles and Engines with Gasoline 

20 Containing Greater Than Ten Volume Percent Ethanol 

21 and Modifications to the Reformulated and Conventional 

22 Gasoline Programs’’, 76 Fed. Reg. 44406 (July 25, 2011) 

23 to mitigate misfueling shall have no force and effect begin24 ning 60 days after the date of enactment of this Act. 

Æ 


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