[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 43 (Tuesday, March 13, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3067-S3070]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. HARKIN (for himself and Mr. Lugar):
  S. 859. A bill to require the Secretary of Energy to award funds to 
study the feasibility of constructing dedicated ethanol pipelines to 
increase the energy, economic, and environmental security of the United 
States, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Energy and Natural 
Resources.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, today I am introducing the Ethanol 
Infrastructure Expansion Act of 2007. This bill directs the Department 
of Energy, DOE, to study and evaluate the feasibility of transporting 
ethanol by pipeline. I am pleased that my colleague, Senator Lugar of 
Indiana, is joining me as a cosponsor of this bill.
  There is broad recognition that we need to reduce our almost-complete 
dependence on oil for energy in our transportation sector. We also 
understand that there is not a single, simple solution to this 
dependence. I believe that we need to use energy more efficiently and 
promote alternatives to petroleum-based fuels in transportation.
  The most promising liquid fuel alternative to conventional gasoline 
today is ethanol. Use of ethanol as an additive in gasoline and in the 
form of E85 is expanding rapidly, and for good reasons. First of all, 
as a domestically-produced fuel, ethanol contributes to our national 
energy security. As a gasoline additive, ethanol provides air quality 
benefits by reducing auto tailpipe emissions of air pollutants. Because 
ethanol is biodegradable, its use poses no threat to surface water or 
groundwater. Finally, the production of ethanol provides national and 
regional economic and job-growth benefits by using local resources and 
labor to contribute to critical national transportation energy needs.
  My Congressional colleagues and I have recognized the benefits and 
potential of ethanol and have promoted its expanded production and use 
in numerous bills, including most recently in the 2005 energy bill. A 
key provision in that legislation is the renewable fuels standard under 
which motor vehicle fuel sold in the United States is required to 
contain increasing levels of renewable fuels. Several other provisions 
promote the production of ethanol from a broad variety of plentiful and 
low-cost biomass including corn stover, wheat straw, forest industry 
wastes woody municipal wastes and dedicated energy crops.
  The viability of ethanol is reflected in the rapid expansion of its 
production

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and use, which has increased by more than 20 percent annually for the 
past several years. Moreover, ethanol's longer-term potential to become 
a very significant energy source for transportation is gaining 
attention. A number of studies have concluded that ethanol can 
contribute 20 to 30 percent or more of our transportation fuel in the 
future. Several of my Senate colleagues have joined me to introduce S. 
23, the Biofuels Security Act of 2007, which calls for increased access 
to ethanol at the pump and greatly expanded production of flexible-fuel 
vehicles. The Act also provides a directive for domestic production of 
renewable fuels to reach 60 billion gallons a year by 2030. I am 
especially proud of the leadership role that my State of Iowa and 
communities across rural America are going to play in this expansion.
  Given this outlook, it is time for us to consider the full 
implications of such a transition. One issue that deserves prompt 
attention is that of ethanol transport. The volumes of ethanol to be 
shipped in the future strongly suggest that pipeline transport should 
be considered due to the potential economic and environmental 
advantages this alternative might offer as compared to shipment by 
highway, rail tanker, or barge. As production volumes increase, 
especially in the Midwest, it is likely to be more economical to pump 
ethanol through pipelines than to ship it in containers across the 
country. Pipeline shipping could provide for reduced vehicle emissions 
and superior energy efficiency compared to rail or tanker shipment.

  For all of these reasons, we should begin to consider development of 
an ethanol pipeline network. Given the pace of ethanol's growth, it is 
likely that our Nation could begin to benefit from pipeline transport 
of ethanol as early as 2015. The current state of knowledge regarding 
transport of ethanol by pipeline is limited. Although it is being done 
in Brazil, a world leader in the production and use of ethanol, 
challenges remain. The water solubility of ethanol introduces technical 
and operational issues that affect the shipment of ethanol in multi-
product pipelines. Thus, the largest associated research costs will be 
in the planning, siting, design, financing, permitting and construction 
of the first ethanol pipelines. This work may well take as long as a 
decade, perhaps longer. For that reason, we need to begin now to 
develop a solid understanding of this ethanol transport option.
  This bill initiates that process by directing the Department of 
Energy to conduct ethanol pipeline feasibility studies. It calls for 
analyses of the technological, economic, regulatory, financial and 
siting issues related to transporting ethanol via pipelines. A 
systematic analysis of these issues will provide the substantive 
information necessary to assess the costs and benefits of this 
transport alternative. The Act would allow DOE the option of funding 
private sector studies or conducting the studies on its own. The 
results of these studies will provide a clearer picture of the benefits 
and challenges of pipeline transport of ethanol. They will provide 
critical information, both for the ethanol industry as it contemplates 
ethanol transport alternatives, and for policy-makers seeking to 
understand what policies or programs might be appropriate to promote 
the most cost-effective and environmentally sound ethanol transport 
into the future.
  We have broad agreement on the need to do all that we can to reduce 
our dependence on oil. We are promoting expanding production and use of 
renewable fuels in many ways, but we need to take into account the full 
range of infrastructure issues that broader ethanol use entails. The 
rapid growth of ethanol production and use necessitates the very near-
term study of transporting ethanol by pipeline. I urge my Senate 
colleagues to join me in passing this important and timely legislation. 
I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be 
printed in the Record, as follows:

                                 S. 859

       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 ``Ethanol Infrastructure 
     Expansion Act of 2007''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) it is in the national interest to make greater use of 
     ethanol in transportation fuels;
       (2) ethanol is a clean, renewable fuel that provides public 
     health benefits in the form of reduced emissions, including 
     reduced greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change;
       (3) ethanol use provides economic gains to agricultural 
     producers, biofuels producers, and rural areas;
       (4) ethanol use benefits the national security of the 
     United States by displacing the use of petroleum, much of 
     which is imported from foreign countries that are hostile to 
     the United States;
       (5) ethanol can reduce prices at the pump for motoring 
     consumers by extending fuel supplies and due to the 
     competitive cost of ethanol relative to conventional 
     gasoline;
       (6) ethanol faces shipping challenges in pipelines that 
     transport other liquid transportation fuels;
       (7) currently ethanol is shipped by rail tanker cars, 
     barges, and trucks, all of which could, as ethanol production 
     expands, encounter capacity limits due to competing use 
     demands for the rail tanker cars, barges, and trucks;
       (8) as the United States ethanol market expands in the 
     coming years there is likely to be a need for dedicated 
     ethanol pipelines to transport ethanol from the Midwest, 
     where ethanol generally is produced, to the Eastern and 
     Western United States;
       (9) as of the date of enactment of this Act, dedicated 
     ethanol pipelines do not exist in the United States and will 
     be challenging to construct, at least initially;
       (10) Brazil has already shown that ethanol can be shipped 
     effectively via pipeline; and
       (11) having an ethanol pipeline study completed in the very 
     near term is important because the construction of 1 or more 
     dedicated ethanol pipelines would take at least several years 
     to complete.

     SEC. 3. DEFINITION OF SECRETARY.

       In this Act, the term ``Secretary'' means the Secretary of 
     Energy.

     SEC. 4. FEASIBILITY STUDIES.

       (a) In General.--The Secretary, in coordination with the 
     Secretary of Agriculture and the Secretary of Transportation, 
     shall spend up to $1,000,000 to fund feasibility studies for 
     the construction of dedicated ethanol pipelines.
       (b) Conduct of Studies.--
       (1) In general.--The Secretary shall--
       (A) through a competitive solicitation process, select 1 or 
     more firms having capabilities in the planning, development, 
     and construction of dedicated ethanol pipelines to carry out 
     the feasibility studies described in subsection (a); or
       (B) carry out the feasibility studies in conjunction with 
     such firms.
       (2) Timing.--
       (A) In general.--If the Secretary elects to select 1 or 
     more firms under paragraph (1)(A), the Secretary shall award 
     funding under this section not later than 120 days after the 
     date of enactment of this Act.
       (B) Studies.--As a condition of receiving funds under this 
     section, a recipient of funding shall agree to submit to the 
     Secretary a completed feasibility study not later than 360 
     days after the date of enactment of this Act.
       (c) Study Factors.--Feasibility studies funded under this 
     Act shall include consideration of--
       (1) existing or potential barriers to dedicated ethanol 
     pipelines, including technical, siting, financing, and 
     regulatory barriers;
       (2) potential evolutionary pathways for the development of 
     an ethanol pipeline transport system, such as starting with 
     localized gathering networks as compared to major interstate 
     ethanol pipelines to carry larger volumes from the Midwest to 
     the East or West coast;
       (3) market risk, including throughput risk, and ways of 
     mitigating the risk;
       (4) regulatory, financing, and siting options that would 
     mitigate risk in these areas and help ensure the construction 
     of dedicated ethanol pipelines;
       (5) financial incentives that may be necessary for the 
     construction of dedicated ethanol pipelines, including the 
     return on equity that sponsors of the first dedicated ethanol 
     pipelines will require to invest in the pipelines;
       (6) ethanol production of 20,000,000,000, 30,000,000,000, 
     and 40,000,000,000 gallons per year by 2020; and
       (7) such other factors that the Secretary considers to be 
     appropriate.
       (d) Confidentiality.--If a recipient of funding under this 
     section requests confidential treatment for critical energy 
     infrastructure information or commercially-sensitive data 
     contained in a feasibility study submitted by the recipient 
     under subsection (b)(2)(B), the Secretary shall offer to 
     enter into a confidentiality agreement with the recipient to 
     maintain the confidentiality of the submitted information.
       (e) Review; Report.--The Secretary shall--
       (1) review the feasibility studies submitted under 
     subsection (b)(2)(B) or carried out under subsection 
     (b)(1)(B); and
       (2) not later than 15 months after the date of enactment of 
     this Act, submit to Congress a report that includes--
       (A) information about the potential benefits of 
     constructing dedicated ethanol pipelines; and

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       (B) recommendations for legislation that could help provide 
     for the construction of dedicated ethanol pipelines.

     SEC. 5. FUNDING.

       There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary to 
     carry out this Act $1,000,000 for fiscal year 2008, to remain 
     available until expended.
                                 ______