Senate Republicans will push to repeal the Environmental Protection Agency’s renewable fuel program in an energy bill pending on the chamber’s floor, Environment and Public Works Chairman James Inhofe said Wednesday.
The Oklahoma Republican said Congress should change the EPA’s Renewable Fuel Standard, which requires refiners to blend ethanol and other biofuels into the nation’s fuel supply, before the program reaches its 36-billion gallon goal in 2022.
He said lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will push for changes in the energy debate, which has stalled. But the top Democrat on his committee, Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, said she will work to stop any legislation that tries to upend the program.
“The Senate is currently considering energy legislation on the floor, and, like we do at every opportunity, senators on both sides of the aisle have proposed changes to the RFS – expanding ethanol use, eliminating ethanol use and eliminating the mandate altogether,” Inhofe said at an oversight hearing on the program.
He said doesn’t want to leave the fate of the RFS up to the Obama administration or EPA bureaucrats, which, “I think we can all agree no one wants that to happen.” He says it is time for Congress to step in before the program ends after reaching its goal in 2022.
“At the heart of today’s discussion is the fact that it is time for Congress to revisit the RFS,” he said in opening remarks. “In fact, Congress must revisit the RFS by 2022 when the tables in the Clean Air Act end, or U.S. fuel policy will be left in the hands of the EPA.”
“Biofuels are more expensive than gasoline,” he said. “Oklahoma is full of gas stations advertising [zero ethanol] … it’s very clear what the people want in the state of Oklahoma.
“Yet regardless of consumer demand, EPA is pushing increased ethanol brands, like 15 percent and higher, to levels that can corrode engines and void vehicle warranties,” Inhofe added. “These are just a few of the reasons why I continue to oppose the RFS, which I’ve done since it was expanded in 2007.”
