Bills Introduced in House and Senate Intend to Expand Use of Biofuels

By Christopher Lawrence, BCS, Incorporated

A major topic of discussion in Congress has been how renewable alternative fuels, such as biofuels, can help wean the Country off oil. Below are some key bills that have been introduced in Congress which could foster the development of biofuels and other renewable fuel alternatives.

The Advanced Fuels Infrastructure Research and Development Act- H.R. 547- This bill, which passed in the House on February 9^th by a margin of 400-3, directs the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in consultation with the National Institute of Standards Technology (NIST) to establish a program of research and development of additives that will make biofuels more compatible with existing fuel infrastructure. The bill specifies that these materials should “prevent or mitigate” problems associated with biofuels and current infrastructure such as: corrosion of materials used in pipes and storage tanks such as rubber, plastic or metal; dissolving of storage tank sediments; microbial contamination and problems associated with electoral conductivity.[i]  The bill authorizes the EPA to use ten million dollars to carry out this act from existing money that has already been appropriated to the agency for energy research, development and demonstration activities.[ii] 

The Cellulosic Development and Implementation Act of 2007- S.167 and H.R. 395- This bill, introduced concurrently by Senator Boxer and Representative Salazar in their respective chambers was referred to the Senate Committee on Public Works and to the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment, respectively. The bill seeks to amend the Clean Air Act, section 212, to direct the Secretary of Energy to establish a “Cellulosic Ethanol Fuel Grant Program”.[iii] The program will award grants to an ‘eligible entity’, which can be a Federal or State research agency, a National Laboratory, private sector entity, a college or university or a nonprofit organization, for research, development and demonstration projects related to cellulosic fuels in vehicles.[iv] The grant review committee shall consist of an equal number of representatives from the Department of Energy (DOE), U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), EPA. The representatives will all be appointed by their respective agency secretaries or administrators. The review committee will also consist of experts appointed by the President that are not federal employees.[v] Priority will be given to projects that “use alternative or renewable energy sources in the production of cellulosic ethanol fuel and demonstration projects”.[vi] The grantee must be able to provide matching funds totaling 20 percent of the grant. The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to establish a pilot program to provide “grants to eligible entities for use in installing infrastructure (such as pumps) that would enable retail gasoline stations to sell and dispense ethanol fuel”.[vii] The bill authorizes one billion dollars for each program for fiscal year 2007 through 2013.

The Renewable Fuels and Energy Independence Promotion Act of 2007- H.R. 196- This bill, introduced by Congressmen Pomeroy and Hulshof, was referred to the House Ways and Means Committee. The bill amends the Internal Revenue Code at Section 40, relating to alcohol used as fuel and section 40A relating to biodiesel to make both income tax credits permanent. It also amends the excise tax portions of the Internal Revenue Code relation to alcohol mixture used as a fuel and biodiesel mixture used as fuel, sections 6426 (b) and 6426 (c), respectfully to make both excise tax credits permanent as it relates to these fuels.[viii] The bill also amends the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States to move the effective date for tariff duties on ethyl alcohol and ethyl tertiary-butyl ether (ethanol) to the effective date of this Act.[ix]

The Biofuels Security Act of 2007- S. 23, H.R. 559- This bill, introduced concurrently by Senator Harkin and Representative Delahunt in their respective chambers seeks to amend Section 211 of the Clean Air Act by prescribing the volume of renewable fuel that gasoline sold in the United States must contain with provisions that require the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to determine the applicable volume for 2010 and beyond.[x] The bill also directs the Secretary of Energy to promulgate regulations that ensure each major oil company that sells gasoline in the United States installs at least one pump that dispenses E85 fuel.[xi] The bill also amends the Energy Policy Act of 1992 “to increase to 100% the proportion of vehicles acquired by a federal fleet in and after 2008 that must be light duty alternative fueled vehicles.”[xii] The bill also requires “makers of new automobiles capable of operating on gasoline or diesel fuel to ensure that a specified percentage of automobiles manufactured in any model year after 2007 for sale in the United States (increasing from 10% in 2008 to 100% in 2017) are dual fueled automobiles”.[xiii] The bill also offers manufacturing incentives to these manufacturing companies.

These are just a few of the bills that have been introduced in Congress that seek to promote the use of biofuels through research, development and deployment grants and incentives as well as through incentives to manufacturers and producers of biofuels related equipment. For more information on these bills and others, refer to Thomas at the the Library of Congress online at http://thomas.loc.gov  as well as the “On the Hill” section of the Biomass Research and Development Initiative website and newsletter.