[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 835 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 835
To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less than 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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
April 20, 2009
Mr. Brownback (for himself, Ms. Cantwell, Mr. Lieberman, Ms. Collins,
Mr. Thune, and Ms. Klobuchar) introduced the following bill; which was
read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and
Transportation
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To require automobile manufacturers to ensure that not less than 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 2009'' 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;
(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 covered
inventory.--The term `light-duty automobile manufacturer's
annual covered inventory' means the number of light-duty
automobiles powered by an internal combustion engine 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 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 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 that are not under the control of
the manufacturer prevent the manufacturer of such
automobile from meeting its required production 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
installation by the manufacturer of such
component; or
``(iii) the failure for plug-in hybrid
electric automobiles to meet State air quality
requirements as a result of the requirement
described in paragraph (1).
``(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.
``(c) Limited Liability Protection for Renewable Fuel and Ethanol
Manufacture, Use, or Distribution.--
``(1) In general.--Notwithstanding any other provision of
Federal or State law, any fuel containing ethanol or a
renewable fuel (as defined in section 211(o)(1) of the Clean
Air Act) that is used or intended to be used to operate an
internal combustion engine shall not be 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
section 211 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545).
``(2) Savings provision.--Nothing in this subsection may be
construed to affect the liability of any person other than
liability based upon a claim of defective product and failure
to warn described in paragraph (1).
``(d) Rulemaking.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the
enactment of this section, the Secretary of Transportation shall
promulgate regulations to carry out this section.''.
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