SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. 
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress makes the following find-
ings: 
(1) The status of oil as a strategic commodity, 
which derives from its domination of the transpor-
tation sector, presents a clear and present danger to 
the United States; 
(2) in a prior era, when salt was a strategic 
commodity, salt mines conferred national power and 
wars were fought over the control of such mines; 
(3) technology, in the form of electricity and re-
frigeration, decisively ended salt’s monopoly of meat 
preservation and greatly reduced its strategic impor-
tance; 
(4) fuel competition and consumer choice would 
similarly serve to end oil’s monopoly in the transpor-
tation sector and strip oil of its strategic status; 
(5) the current closed fuel market has allowed 
a cartel of petroleum exporting countries to inflate 
fuel prices, effectively imposing a harmful tax on the 
economy of the United States; 
(6) much of the inflated petroleum revenues the 
oil cartel earns at the expense of the people of the 
United States are used for purposes antithetical to 
the interests of the United States and its allies; 
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(7) alcohol fuels, including ethanol and meth-
anol, could potentially provide significant supplies of 
additional fuels that could be produced in the United 
States and in many other countries in the Western 
Hemisphere that are friendly to the United States; 
(8) alcohol fuels can only play a major role in 
securing the energy independence of the United 
States if a substantial portion of vehicles in the 
United States are capable of operating on such fuels; 
(9) it is not in the best interest of United 
States consumers or the United States Government 
to be constrained to depend solely upon petroleum 
resources for vehicle fuels if alcohol fuels are poten-
tially available; 
(10) existing technology, in the form of flexible 
fuel vehicles, allows internal combustion engine cars 
and trucks to be produced at little or no additional 
cost, which are capable of operating on conventional 
gasoline, alcohol fuels, or any combination of such 
fuels, as availability or cost advantage dictates, pro-
viding a platform on which fuels can compete; 
(11) the necessary distribution system for such 
alcohol fuels will not be developed in the United 
States until a substantial fraction of the vehicles in 
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the United States are capable of operating on such 
fuels; 
(12) the establishment of such a vehicle fleet 
and distribution system would provide a large mar-
ket that would mobilize private resources to substan-
tially advance the technology and expand the pro-
duction of alcohol fuels in the United States and 
abroad; 
(13) the United States has an urgent national 
security interest to develop alcohol fuels technology, 
production, and distribution systems as rapidly as 
possible; 
(14) new cars sold in the United States that 
are equipped with an internal combustion engine 
should allow for fuel competition by being flexible 
fuel vehicles, and new diesel cars should be capable 
of operating on biodiesel; and 
(15) such an open fuel standard would help to 
protect the United States economy from high and 
volatile oil prices and from the threats caused by 
global instability, terrorism, and natural disaster. 
SEC. 3. OPEN FUEL STANDARD FOR TRANSPORTATION. 
Chapter 329 of title 49, United States Code, is 
amended by adding at the end the following: 
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‘‘SEC. 32920. OPEN FUEL STANDARD FOR TRANSPOR-
TATION. 
‘‘(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
‘‘(1) E85.—The term ‘E85’ means a fuel mix-
ture containing 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent 
gasoline by volume. 
‘‘(2) FLEXIBLE FUEL AUTOMOBILE.—The term 
‘flexible fuel automobile’ means an automobile that 
has been warranted by its manufacturer to operate 
on gasoline, E85, and M85. 
‘‘(3) FUEL CHOICE-ENABLING AUTOMOBILE.— 
The term ‘fuel choice-enabling automobile’ means— 
‘‘(A) a flexible fuel automobile; or 
‘‘(B) an automobile that has been war-
ranted by its manufacturer to operate on bio-
diesel. 
‘‘(4) LIGHT-DUTY
AUTOMOBILE.—The term 
‘light-duty automobile’ means— 
‘‘(A) a passenger automobile; or 
‘‘(B) a non-passenger automobile. 
‘‘(5) 
LIGHT-DUTY
AUTOMOBILE
MANUFAC-
TURER’S ANNUAL COVERED INVENTORY.—The term 
‘light-duty automobile manufacturer’s annual cov-
ered inventory’ means the number of light-duty 
automobiles powered by an internal combustion en-
gine that a manufacturer, during a given calendar 
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year, manufactures in the United States or imports 
from outside of the United States for sale in the 
United States. 
‘‘(6) M85.—The term ‘M85’ means a fuel mix-
ture containing 85 percent methanol and 15 percent 
gasoline by volume. 
‘‘(b) OPEN
FUEL
STANDARD
FOR
TRANSPOR-
TATION.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), each light-duty automobile manufactur-
er’s annual covered inventory shall be comprised 
of— 
‘‘(A) not less than 50 percent fuel choice- 
enabling automobiles in 2012, 2013, and 2014; 
and 
‘‘(B) not less than 80 percent fuel choice- 
enabling automobiles in 2015, and in each sub-
sequent year. 
‘‘(2) TEMPORARY EXEMPTION FROM REQUIRE-
MENTS.— 
‘‘(A) APPLICATION.—A manufacturer may 
request an exemption from the requirement de-
scribed in paragraph (1) by submitting an ap-
plication to the Secretary, at such time, in such 
manner, and containing such information as the 
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Secretary may require by regulation. Each such 
application shall specify the models, lines, and 
types of automobiles affected. 
‘‘(B) EVALUATION.—After evaluating an 
application received from a manufacturer, the 
Secretary may at any time, under such terms 
and conditions, and to such extent as the Sec-
retary considers appropriate, temporarily ex-
empt, or renew the exemption of, a light-duty 
automobile from the requirement described in 
paragraph (1) if the Secretary determines that 
unavoidable events not under the control of the 
manufacturer prevent the manufacturer of such 
automobile from meeting its required produc-
tion volume of fuel choice-enabling automobiles, 
including— 
‘‘(i) a disruption in the supply of any 
component required for compliance with 
the regulations; 
‘‘(ii) a disruption in the use and in-
stallation by the manufacturer of such 
component; or 
‘‘(iii) application to plug-in electric ve-
hicles causing such vehicles to fail to meet 
State air quality requirements. 
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‘‘(C) 
CONSOLIDATION.—The 
Secretary 
may consolidate applications received from mul-
tiple manufacturers under subparagraph (A) if 
they are of a similar nature. 
‘‘(D) CONDITIONS.—Any exemption grant-
ed under subparagraph (B) shall be conditioned 
upon the manufacturer’s commitment to recall 
the exempted automobiles for installation of the 
omitted components within a reasonable time 
proposed by the manufacturer and approved by 
the Secretary after such components become 
available in sufficient quantities to satisfy both 
anticipated production and recall volume re-
quirements. 
‘‘(E) NOTICE.—The Secretary shall pub-
lish in the Federal Register— 
‘‘(i) notice of each application received 
from a manufacturer; 
‘‘(ii) notice of each decision to grant 
or deny a temporary exemption; and 
‘‘(iii) the reasons for granting or de-
nying such exemptions. 
‘‘(3) RULEMAKING.—Not later than 1 year 
after the date of enactment of this Act, the Sec-
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retary of Transportation shall promulgate regula-
tions to carry out this section.’’. 
Æ 
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