1.This Act may be cited as
the Open Fuel Standard Act of
2009
or the OFS
Act
.
2.
(a)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.
3.Open fuel
standard for transportationChapter 329 of title 49, United States Code,
is amended by adding at the end the following:
32920.Open fuel
standard for transportation
(a)In
this section:
(1)The
term E85 means a fuel mixture containing 85 percent ethanol and 15
percent gasoline by volume.
(2)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 automobileThe 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)The term light-duty automobile
means—
(A)a passenger
automobile; or
(B)a non-passenger
automobile.
(5)Light-duty
automobile manufacturer’s annual covered inventoryThe 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)The
term M85 means a fuel mixture containing 85 percent methanol and
15 percent gasoline by volume.
(b)Open fuel
standard for transportation
(1)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)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)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)The
Secretary may consolidate applications received from multiple manufactures
under subparagraph (A) if they are of a similar nature.
(D)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)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)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)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)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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