Securing America's Future with Energy and Sustainable Technologies Act

Bill: 111-s-3576
Sponsor: Sen. Klobuchar, Amy [D-MN]
Introduced: 2010-07-13 in the Senate
Policy area: Energy
Subjects: Air quality
Alternative and renewable resources
Business investment and capital
Climate change and greenhouse gases
Electric power generation and transmission
Energy efficiency and conservation
Energy research
Environmental technology
Government lending and loan guarantees
Government studies and investigations
Government trust funds
Income tax credits
Income tax deductions
Land use and conservation
Marine and coastal resources, fisheries
Motor fuels
Motor vehicles
Oil and gas
Pipelines
Research administration and funding
Research and development

Summary:
action_date: 2010-07-13
text: 
Securing America's Future with Energy and Sustainable Technologies Act - Amends the Clean Air Act to revise the renewable fuel program, including by: (1) revising the meaning of &quot;advanced biofuel&quot;; and (2) requiring the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to promulgate regulations that exempt from lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission requirements for advanced biofuel and biomass-based diesel up to the greater of 1 billion gallons or the volume or the program's volume mandate of biomass-based diesel annually from facilities that commenced construction before December 19, 2007. Sets forth provisions concerning emissions from indirect land use changes outside the country of origin of a renewable fuel's feedstock, including requiring the Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture (USDA) to jointly arrange for the National Academies of Science to review and report on specified issues relating to indirect GHG emissions relating to transportation fuels. 
 
Sets forth provisions concerning modifying the definition of renewable biomass in the Clean Air Act and the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978. 
 
Amends the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to allow the Secretary of Energy (DOE) to make loan guarantees for renewable fuel pipelines and the installation of sufficient infrastructure to allow for the cost-effective deployment of clean energy technologies to each region of the United States.
 
Requires each light-duty automobile manufacturer's annual covered inventory to be comprised of at least 30% fuel choice-enabling automobiles by 2013, 50% by 2015, 80% by 2017, and 100% by 2021 and thereafter.
 
Prohibits any fuel containing ethanol or a renewable fuel that is used to operate an internal combustion engine from being deemed to be a defective product or subject to a failure to warn due to such ethanol or renewable fuel content unless such fuel violates a control or prohibition imposed by the Administrator under the Clean Air Act.
 
Authorizes appropriations for the Hollings Manufacturing Partnership Program.
 
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to: (1) allow a new tax credit for the installation of blender pumps to store or dispense ethanol fuel blends; (2) exempt renewable wind energy facilities from restrictions on tax write-offs for passive losses and treat income and gains from wind energy as qualifying income for publicly-traded partnerships; (3) extend through 2015 income and excise tax credits for alcohol used as fuel; (4) extend through 2012 the income and excise tax credits for biodiesel and renewable diesel used as fuel; and (5) allow a business-related tax credit and payments in lieu of excise tax credit for renewable electricity integration.
 
Amends the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 to require: (1) electric utilities to obtain a specified minimum annual percentage of electricity from renewable energy sources (increasing from 10% in 2013 to 25% in 2025); (2) the Secretary to establish a renewable energy credit trading program; (3) a state renewable energy account program to be established in the Treasury for providing grants to the state agency responsible for developing energy conservation plans for promoting renewable energy production; (4) the Secretary to establish a program which requires each retail electricity distributor to achieve specified cumulative energy savings (increasing from 1.5% in 2012 to 9.5% in 2020) and each retail natural gas distributor to demonstrate that it has achieved cumulative natural gas savings in each year; and (5) the Secretary to promulgate regulations establishing performance standards for both cumulative electricity savings and cumulative natural gas savings for 2021-2030 by December 31, 2015, and to promulgate regulations establishing such standards for subsequent years.
 
Amends the Wind Energy Systems Act of 1980 to authorize appropriations to carry out wind energy research, development, and deployment through the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Office of the Department of Energy.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2010-07-13
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2010-07-13
text: Introduced in Senate