[Congressional Bills 110th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 6559 Introduced in House (IH)]
110th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 6559
To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less that 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 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
July 22, 2008
Mr. Engel (for himself, Mr. Kingston, Mr. Israel, and Mr. Inglis of
South Carolina) introduced the following bill; which was referred to
the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less that 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.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Open Fuel Standard Act of 2008'' or
the ``OFS Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES.
(a) Findings.--Congress makes the following findings:
(1) The status of oil as a strategic commodity, which
derives from its domination of the transportation 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
refrigeration, decisively ended salt's monopoly of meat
preservation and greatly reduced its strategic importance;
(4) fuel competition and consumer choice would similarly
serve to end oil's monopoly in the transportation 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 of nearly $500,000,000,000 per year;
(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;
(7) alcohol fuels, including ethanol and methanol, 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 potentially 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, providing 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 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 market that would
mobilize private resources to substantially advance the
technology and expand the production 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:
``SEC. 32920. OPEN FUEL STANDARD FOR TRANSPORTATION.
``(a) Definitions.--In this section:
``(1) E85.--The term `E85' means a fuel mixture 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 warranted by its
manufacturer to operate on biodiesel.
``(4) Light-duty automobile.--The term `light-duty
automobile' means--
``(A) a passenger automobile; or
``(B) a non-passenger automobile.
``(5) Light-duty automobile manufacturer's annual
inventory.--The term `light-duty automobile manufacturer's
annual inventory' means the number of light-duty automobiles
that a manufacturer, during a given calendar 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 mixture containing
85 percent methanol and 15 percent gasoline by volume.
``(b) Open Fuel Standard for Transportation.--
``(1) In general.--Except as provided in paragraph (2),
each light-duty automobile manufacturer's annual 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 subsequent year.
``(2) Temporary exemption from requirements.--
``(A) Application.--A manufacturer may request an
exemption from the requirement described in paragraph
(1) by submitting an application to the Secretary, at
such time, in such manner, and containing such
information as the 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 Secretary considers appropriate,
temporarily exempt, 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 production volume
of fuel choice-enabling automobiles due to a disruption
in--
``(i) the supply of any component required
for compliance with the regulations; or
``(ii) the use and installation by the
manufacturer of such component.
``(C) Consolidation.--The Secretary may consolidate
applications received from multiple manufactures under
subparagraph (A) if they are of a similar nature.
``(D) Conditions.--Any exemption granted 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
requirements.
``(E) Notice.--The Secretary shall publish 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 denying
such exemptions.
``(F) Labeling.--Each manufacturer that receives an
exemption under this paragraph shall place a label on
each exempted automobile. Such label--
``(i) shall comply with the regulations
prescribed by the Secretary under paragraph
(3); and
``(ii) may only be removed after recall and
installation of the required components.
``(G) Notice of exemption.--Each light-duty
automobile delivered to dealers and first purchasers
that is not a fuel choice-enabling automobile and for
which the manufacturer received an exemption under this
paragraph, shall be accompanied with a written
notification of such exemption, which complies with the
regulations prescribed by the Secretary under paragraph
(3).
``(3) Rulemaking.--Not later than 1 year after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Transportation shall
promulgate regulations to carry out this section.''.
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