Renewable Fuels Act

Bill: 108-s-791
Sponsor: Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK]
Introduced: 2003-04-03 in the Senate
Policy area: Environmental Protection
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Agricultural wastes
Agriculture and Food
Alcohol as fuel
Alternative energy sources
Biomass energy
Business records
Cellulose
Commerce
Competition
Congress
Congressional reporting requirements
Crime and Law Enforcement
Diesel motor
Economic concentration
Economic impact statements
Economics and Public Finance
Energy
Energy efficiency
Energy facilities
Energy industries
Energy prices
Energy supplies
Environmental Protection Agency
Environmental health
Environmental law enforcement
Environmental research
Executive orders
Federal-state relations
Federally-guaranteed loans
Finance and Financial Sector
Gasoline
Government Operations and Politics
Government paperwork
Government procurement
Government publicity
Government vehicles
Governmental investigations
Grain
Health
Landfills
Law
Legislation
Local laws
Medical research
Methane
Motor vehicle pollution control
Municipal solid waste
Oil pollution
Oxygen
Oxygenates
Ozone
Petroleum industry
Petroleum refineries
Petroleum storage
Public Lands and Natural Resources
Reformulated gasoline
Refuse as fuel
Science, Technology, Communications
Small business
Soil pollution
Standards
State laws
Transportation and Public Works
Underground storage
Water pollution control
Water quality

Summary:
action_date: 2003-04-03
text: Reliable Fuels Act - Amends the Clean Air Act to require that gasoline contain a specified volume of renewable fuel. Provides for annual increases in the applicable volume through 2012. Establishes a ratio for determining the volume required from 2013 onward. 
Defines renewable fuel to include motor vehicle fuel produced from biomass (e.g., grain) or natural gas produced from a biogas (e.g., landfill) source. 
Establishes a system of credits for gasoline containing more renewable fuel than required. 
Requires studies concerning these renewable fuel requirements, in particular on: (1) seasonal variations in renewable fuel availability; (2) the impact on consumers; and (3) the impact on small refineries. 
Establishes a system of waivers for States claiming and proving economic or environmental hardship. 
Establishes a Federal agency ethanol-blended gasoline and biodiesel purchasing requirement. 
Requires data collection concerning the monthly consumption of renewable fuels. 
Federal Reformulated Fuels Act of 2003 - Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to permit the use of the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) remediation purposes. 
Amends the Clean Air Act to revise guidelines pertaining to: (1) water quality protection from fuels; (2) oxygen content requirements for reformulated gasoline; (3) public health and environmental impacts of fuels and fuel additives; (4) analyses of motor vehicle fuel changes; (5) additional opt-in areas under the reformulated gasoline program; and (6) Federal enforcement of State fuels requirements. 
Requires a joint study of Federal, State, and local requirements concerning motor vehicle fuels.
action_date: 2003-06-03
text: Reliable Fuels Act - 
Title I: General Provisions - 
(Sec. 101) Amends the Clean Air Act to require that gasoline contain a specified volume of renewable fuel. Provides for annual increases in the applicable volume through 2012. Establishes a ratio for determining the volume required from 2013 onward. 
Defines renewable fuel to include motor vehicle fuel produced from: (1) biomass (e.g., grain); (2) natural gas produced from a biogas (e.g., landfill) source; and (3) cellulosic biomass ethanol and biodiesel. 
Establishes a system of credits for gasoline containing more renewable fuel than required. Permits these credits to be traded. 
Requires studies concerning these renewable fuel requirements, in particular on: (1) seasonal variations in renewable fuel availability; (2) the impact on consumers; and (3) the impact on small refineries. 
Establishes a system of waivers for States and small refineries claiming and proving economic or environmental hardship. 
Directs the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to annually perform and report to Congress on a market concentration analysis of the ethanol production industry to determine if there is sufficient competition. 
Establishes a renewable fuel safe harbor, shielding manufacturers and distributors from liability against defects in design or manufacture, but not wrongful release into the environment. 
Requires a procedure for States to eliminate a particular vapor pressure limitation (which affects a fuel's degree of volatility) for ethanol blends when necessary to prevent increased emissions in a particular area of the State. 
(Sec. 102) Requires the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to conduct and report to Congress on an annual survey to determine the market shares of various types of fuels with ethanol or renewable fuels for each conventional and reformulated gasoline use area in each State. 
Directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a federally-guaranteed loan program for construction of facilities that convert municipal solid waste into fuel ethanol. 
Requires the Administrator to make grants for the development of renewable fuel production technologies. 
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to merchant producers of cellulosic biomass ethanol for the construction of production facilities that use cellulosic biomass feedstocks derived from agricultural residues or municipal solid waste. 
(Sec. 103) Requires data collection concerning the monthly consumption of renewable fuels. 

Title II: Federal Reformulated Fuels - 
(Sec. 201) Federal Reformulated Fuels Act of 2003 - (Sec. 202) Amends the Solid Waste Disposal Act to permit the use of the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund for methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) remediation purposes. 
(Sec. 203) Restricts the future use of MTBE as a fuel additive to States which individually authorize its sale and use within their own borders. 
Authorizes the Secretary to make grants to merchant producers of MTBE to assist in the conversion of production facilities. 
(Sec. 204) Amends the Clean Air Act to eliminate the oxygen content requirement for reformulated gasoline. 
Requires the Administrator to establish standards for toxic air pollutants from the use of reformulated gasoline that maintain the reduction of average annual aggregate emissions levels achieved earlier. 
Permits the commingling at retail stations of reformulated gasoline which contains ethanol and reformulated gasoline which does not. 
(Sec. 205) Requires the Administrator to require tests to determine potential public health impacts of fuels or fuel additives. 
(Sec. 206) Requires the Administrator to publish an analysis of the impact of motor vehicle fuel changes on emissions. 
(Sec. 207) Permits States additional opt-in areas under the reformulated gasoline program. 
 (Sec. 208) Requires Federal enforcement of State fuels requirements. 
(Sec. 209) Requires a joint study of and report to Congress on Federal, State, and local requirements concerning motor vehicle fuels.

Legislative actions:
action_date: 2003-06-03
text: Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar under General Orders. Calendar No. 119.
action_date: 2003-06-03
text: Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Inhofe with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 108-57. Additional views filed.
action_date: 2003-06-03
text: Committee on Environment and Public Works. Reported by Senator Inhofe with an amendment in the nature of a substitute. With written report No. 108-57. Additional views filed.
action_date: 2003-04-09
text: Committee on Environment and Public Works. Ordered to be reported with amendments favorably.
action_date: 2003-04-03
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works.
action_date: 2003-04-03
text: Introduced in Senate