Opponents of the Environmental Protection Agency’s ethanol mandate say Thursday’s hearing in the Senate’s homeland security committee is proof that interest in reforming the agency’s renewable fuel program is rising.
The oil industry and a number of other groups want Congress to reform, or outright repeal, the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard in the current Congress after years of mismanagement, delays and other program failures that they argue point to a much-needed legislative fix.
The standard requires that refiners blend renewable fuels, primarily corn-based ethanol, into the nation’s transportation fuels. But the oil industry says the fuel system cannot handle higher volumes of ethanol without the risk of damaging vehicle engines. The refiners say EPA must significantly reduce its requirements.
Others representing restaurant chains and livestock producers say the increased reliance on corn for fuel has raised the price of food and feed, placing strain on small business owners.
Some environmental groups want the program significantly curtailed due to EPA’s failure to transition the program to more sustainable, advanced biofuels and away from corn-based ethanol.
EPA assistant administrator Janet McCabe says its latest attempt to adjust the program “is a reasonable and responsible approach” to the blending concerns.
Thursday’s hearing of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee’s regulatory affairs subcommittee, typically thought of as more concerned with matters of national security and terrorism, is now taking aim at the ethanol mandate because of the EPA’s year-after-year failures to meet congressional required targets, aides say.
Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, told reporters on a Wednesday call that the hearing is indicative of the growth in concerns regarding the fuel standard that is bringing other organizations into the mix.
It “shows interest in the RFS…[is becoming] much more diversified” because of a mix of impacts it is having on consumers and industry, Gerard said. “Over time you are going to see … a lot of other jurisdictions” seeking to weigh in on the program.
He said lawmakers across a number of committees were waiting for the EPA to issue a new proposal that seeks to overcome refiners’ concerns about engine damage. The agency took that step last month by issuing proposed rules setting the blending requirements for biofuels retroactively for 2014, 2015 and 2016.
“A lot of people were waiting to see if they are needed to intervene,” Gerard said. The trade organization and other groups want Congress to intervene after not being satisfied with the proposed rules. Gerard says the program requires a congressionsal fix.
Typically, EPA programs would fall under the jurisdiction of the Environment and Public Works Committee. Thursday’s hearing is the first in the current Congress of a subcommittee under the homeland security committee to conduct oversight of the program.
Aides say the focus of the hearing will be on EPA’s failure to set blending targets by the program’s Nov. 30 deadline, which was the subject of a lawsuit last year.
McCabe is the only official slated to testify.
