118 S1741 IS: No Fuel Credits for Batteries Act of 2023
U.S. Senate
2023-05-18
text/xml
EN
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II
118th CONGRESS
1st Session
S. 1741
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
May 18, 2023
Mr. Grassley (for himself and Mr. Cornyn) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works
A BILL
To amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers from participating in the renewable fuel program, and for other purposes.
1.

Short title
This Act may be cited as the “No Fuel Credits for Batteries Act of 2023”.
2.

Revisions to credit program
(a)

Amendments
Section 211(o)(5) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(5)) is amended—
(1)
in subparagraph (A)—
(A)
in clause (ii), by striking “and” at the end;
(B)
in clause (iii), by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”; and
(C)
by adding at the end the following:
“(iv)
for the prohibition of generation of credits by electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers (as defined in section 3(a) of the No Fuel Credits for Batteries Act of 2023).”;
(2)
in subparagraph (B)—
(A)
by striking “A person” and inserting the following:
“(i)

In general
Except as provided in clause (ii), a person”; and
(B)
by adding at the end the following:
“(ii)

Exception
A person that is an electric vehicle original equipment manufacturer (as defined in section 3(a) of the No Fuel Credits for Batteries Act of 2023) may not, for the purpose of complying with paragraph (2), use or transfer all or a portion of the credits to another person.”; and
(3)
in subparagraph (E)—
(A)
by striking the period at the end and inserting “; and”;
(B)
by striking “Administrator; and (ii) for the use” and inserting the following:
“Administrator;
(ii)
for the use”;
(C)
by striking “regulations providing: (i) for the generation” and inserting the following:
“regulations providing—
(i)
for the generation”; and
(D)
by adding at the end the following:
“(iii)
for the prohibition of the generation, use, or transfer of the appropriate amount of credits by electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers (as defined in section 3(a) of the No Fuel Credits for Batteries Act of 2023) for additional renewable fuel.”.
(b)

Regulations
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency shall promulgate a final rule to carry out the amendments made by subsection (a).
(c)

Effective date
The amendments made by subsection (a) take effect on January 1, 2024.
3.

Ineligibility for renewable fuel standard
(a)

Definitions
In this section:
(1)

Administrator
The term Administrator means the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency.
(2)

Electric vehicle original equipment manufacturer
The term electric vehicle original equipment manufacturer means the original equipment manufacturer of—
(A)
an electric light-duty vehicle; or
(B)
an electric light-duty truck.
(3)

Proposed eRIN program
The term proposed eRIN program means the program governing the generation of renewable identification numbers representing renewable electricity by electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers, as described in—
(A)
the proposed rule of the Environmental Protection Agency entitled “Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) Program: Standards for 2023–2025 and Other Changes” (87 Fed. Reg. 80582 (December 30, 2022)) (or any successor or substantially related proposal);
(B)
the regulatory impact analysis of the Assessment and Standards Division of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality of the Environmental Protection Agency entitled “Draft Regulatory Impact Analysis: RFS Standards for 2023–2025 and Other Changes”, with docket number EPA–HQ–OAR–2021–0427–0267, and dated November 2022; and
(C)
the memorandum of the Office of Transportation and Air Quality of the Environmental Protection Agency entitled “Examples of RIN generation under the proposed RFS eRIN provisions”, with docket number EPA–HQ–OAR–2021–0427–0032, and dated November 22, 2022.
(4)

Renewable fuel
The term renewable fuel has the meaning given the term in section 211(o)(1) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(1)).
(5)

Renewable fuel program
The term renewable fuel program means the renewable fuel program under section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)).
(6)

Renewable identification number
The term renewable identification number has the meaning given the term “Renewable Identification Number (RIN)” in section 80.1401 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation).
(b)

Rule required
Not later than 180 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall promulgate a final rule revising the regulations for carrying out the renewable fuel program that—
(1)
in accordance with the amendments made by section 2(a), makes electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers ineligible for the generation, use, or transfer of renewable electricity renewable identification numbers for compliance with, or any other purpose under, the renewable fuel program;
(2)
withdraws the proposed eRIN program;
(3)
maintains the current equivalence value for renewable electricity as described in section 80.1415 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect on the date of enactment of this Act); and
(4)
eliminates the provisions of the proposed rule described in subsection (a)(3)(A) affiliated with the proposed eRIN program.
(c)

Effective date of regulations
The final rule required under subsection (b) shall take effect on January 1, 2024.
4.

Savings provision
Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this Act limits the authority of the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency to approve new fuel pathways or review existing fuel pathways under the renewable fuel program under section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)).