II 

110TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. 3303 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JULY 22, 2008 

Mr. BROWNBACK (for himself, Mr. SALAZAR, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. LIEBERMAN, 

and Mr. THUNE) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and 

referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation 

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 2008’’ 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 of nearly 

22 $500,000,000,000 per year; 

23 (6) much of the inflated petroleum revenues the 

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

25 United States are used for purposes antithetical to 

26 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 INVENTORY.—The term ‘light-duty 

23 automobile manufacturer’s annual inventory’ means 

24 the number of light-duty automobiles that a manu25 facturer, during a given calendar year, manufactures 


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1 in the United States or imports from outside of the 

2 United States for sale in the United States. 

3 ‘‘(6) M85.—The term ‘M85’ means a fuel mix4 ture containing 85 percent methanol and 15 percent 

5 gasoline by volume. 

6 ‘‘(b) OPEN FUEL STANDARD FOR TRANSPOR7 TATION.— 

8 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para9 graph (2), each light-duty automobile manufactur10 er’s annual inventory shall be comprised of— 

11 ‘‘(A) not less than 50 percent fuel choice12 enabling automobiles in 2012, 2013, and 2014; 

13 and 

14 ‘‘(B) not less than 80 percent fuel choice15 enabling automobiles in 2015, and in each sub16 sequent year. 

17 ‘‘(2) TEMPORARY EXEMPTION FROM REQUIRE18 MENTS.— 

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

20 request an exemption from the requirement de21 scribed in paragraph (1) by submitting an ap22 plication to the Secretary, at such time, in such 

23 manner, and containing such information as the 

24 Secretary may require by regulation. Each such 


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1 application shall specify the models, lines, and 

2 types of automobiles affected. 

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

4 application received from a manufacturer, the 

5 Secretary may at any time, under such terms 

6 and conditions, and to such extent as the Sec7 retary considers appropriate, temporarily ex8 empt, or renew the exemption of, a light-duty 

9 automobile from the requirement described in 

10 paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines that 

11 unavoidable events not under the control of the 

12 manufacturer prevent the manufacturer of such 

13 automobile from meeting its required produc14 tion volume of fuel choice-enabling automobiles 

15 due to a disruption in— 

16 ‘‘(i) the supply of any component re17 quired for compliance with the regulations; 

18 or 

19 ‘‘(ii) the use and installation by the 

20 manufacturer of such component. 

21 ‘‘(C) CONSOLIDATION.—The Secretary 

22 may consolidate applications received from mul23 tiple manufactures under subparagraph (A) if 

24 they are of a similar nature. 


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1 ‘‘(D) CONDITIONS.—Any exemption grant2 ed under subparagraph (B) shall be conditioned 

3 upon the manufacturer’s commitment to recall 

4 the exempted automobiles for installation of the 

5 omitted components within a reasonable time 

6 proposed by the manufacturer and approved by 

7 the Secretary after such components become 

8 available in sufficient quantities to satisfy both 

9 anticipated production and recall volume re10 quirements. 

11 ‘‘(E) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall pub12 lish in the Federal Register— 

13 ‘‘(i) notice of each application received 

14 from a manufacturer; 

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

16 or deny a temporary exemption; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) the reasons for granting or de18 nying such exemptions. 

19 ‘‘(F) LABELING.—Each manufacturer that 

20 receives an exemption under this paragraph 

21 shall place a label on each exempted auto22 mobile. Such label— 

23 ‘‘(i) shall comply with the regulations 

24 prescribed by the Secretary under para25 graph (3); and 


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1 ‘‘(ii) may only be removed after recall 

2 and installation of the required compo3 nents. 

4 ‘‘(G) NOTICE OF EXEMPTION.—Each light5 duty automobile delivered to dealers and first 

6 purchasers that is not a fuel choice-enabling 

7 automobile and for which the manufacturer re8 ceived an exemption under this paragraph, shall 

9 be accompanied with a written notification of 

10 such exemption, which complies with the regula11 tions prescribed by the Secretary under para12 graph (3). 

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

14 after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec15 retary of Transportation shall promulgate regula16 tions to carry out this section.’’. 

Æ 


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