07/30/2010
House Energy and Commerce Leaders Question EPA on E15 Waiver Consideration, NACS Supports Solution with H.R. 5778
NACS Washington Report - July 30, 2010 - In a seven-page letter to Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry Waxman (D-CA) and Ranking Republican Joe Barton (R-TX) and Subcommittee on Energy and Environment Chairman Ed Markey (D-MA) and Ranking Republican Fred Upton (R-MI) asked a series of questions regarding the Agency’s ongoing review of a petition to allow the sale and use of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol.
“As you consider this petition, we believe it is important that you protect the investments the American people have made in their cars, trucks, boats, lawn mowers, and other engines and equipment, and the investments that many small business owners have made in their gas stations,” the legislators wrote.
Among the questions asked in the letter, the legislators wanted to know if EPA could assure consumers that E15 would not adversely affect the operability, durability, safety and pollution control equipment on a variety of vehicles and engines; what authority EPA has to grant a partial waiver for E15 use in only a subset of vehicles or engines; if EPA was developing a plan to prevent the misfueling of unapproved vehicles or engines, and if so, to what extent EPA is working with private stakeholders in the development of that plan; and what kind and how many existing gas pumps and tanks can use E15 without risk of leak or equipment failure and how many are lawfully certified to sell the product.
The letter was delivered less than two weeks after Representatives Mike Ross (D-AR) and John Shimkus (R-IL) introduced H.R. 5778, the Renewable Fuels Marketing Act of 2010, written to address some of the issues outlined in the letter. Specifically, H.R. 5778 would direct EPA to establish a process through which retailers could have existing equipment evaluated for compatibility with and legally authorized to store and dispense new fuels. In addition, H.R. 5778 would require EPA to issue labeling regulations to inform consumers about appropriate and legal uses of new fuels. Retailers who comply with such requires would not be subject to Clean Air Act violations or liable for engine warranties if the self-service customer ignores the labels and misfuels their vehicle or engine.
As of Thursday evening, Reps. Ross and Shimkus had secured the following representatives as cosponsors of H.R. 5778: Jo Bonner (R-AL), Ed Whitfield (R-KY), Walter B. Jones (R-NC), Jim Matheson (D-UT), Ed Royce (R-CA), Rick Boucher (D-VA), Aaron Schock (R-IL), Roy Blunt (R-MO), Baron Hill (D-IN) and John Sullivan (R-OK).
Go to http://www.capitolconnect.com/nacs/alertdetail.aspx?AlertID=91 to ask your Representative to cosponsor this important bill.
NACS Staff Contact: John Eichberger, jeichberger@nacsonline.com