Food and Fuel Consumer Protection Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 2540 To alleviate the ethanol blend wall under the renewable fuel program, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES MAY 7, 2019 Mr. FLORES (for himself, Mr. WELCH, Mr. WOMACK, and Mr. COSTA) intro- duced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce A BILL To alleviate the ethanol blend wall under the renewable fuel program, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Food and Fuel Con- 4 sumer Protection Act of 2019’’. 5 SEC. 2. ALLEVIATING ETHANOL BLEND WALL. 6 Section 211(o)(3)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7 7545(o)(3)(B)) is amended by inserting at the end the fol- 8 lowing: 9 ‘‘(iii) LIMITATION.— 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2540.IH H2540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 2 •HR 2540 IH ‘‘(I) IN GENERAL.—Notwith- 1 standing the volumes specified in 2 paragraph (2)(B), the Administrator 3 shall not determine any renewable fuel 4 obligation for a calendar year under 5 this subsection that would result, di- 6 rectly or indirectly, in the introduction 7 into commerce in the United States of 8 a total volume of ethanol contained in 9 transportation fuel that is greater 10 than 9.70 percent of the total volume 11 of gasoline projected to be sold or in- 12 troduced into commerce in the United 13 States for such calendar year. 14 ‘‘(II) ESTIMATE.—In imple- 15 menting subclause (I), the Adminis- 16 trator shall request from the Adminis- 17 trator of the Energy Information Ad- 18 ministration, and use without alter- 19 ation, an estimate, with respect to the 20 following calendar year, of the total 21 volume of gasoline projected to be sold 22 or introduced into commerce in the 23 United States. The Administrator of 24 the Energy Information Administra- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2540.IH H2540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 3 •HR 2540 IH tion shall provide such estimate to the 1 Administrator by October 31st each 2 year. 3 ‘‘(III) APPLICABILITY.—The lim- 4 itation established in subclause (I) 5 shall apply without regard to the 6 available supply of credits generated 7 in a prior year pursuant to paragraph 8 (5). 9 ‘‘(IV) PRESUMPTION.—In imple- 10 menting subclause (I) for a calendar 11 year, the Administrator shall not ex- 12 clude commercially available ethanol 13 that is cellulosic biofuel or advanced 14 biofuel.’’. 15 SEC. 3. FAILURE TO MEET DEADLINES. 16 Section 211(o)(3)(B) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 17 7545(o)(3)(B)), as amended by section 2, is further 18 amended by adding at the end the following: 19 ‘‘(iv) FAILURE TO MEET DEAD- 20 LINES.—If the Administrator fails to de- 21 termine and publish the renewable fuel ob- 22 ligation with respect to the following cal- 23 endar year in accordance with clauses (i), 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2540.IH H2540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS 4 •HR 2540 IH (ii), and (iii), then the renewable fuel obli- 1 gation for such year shall be— 2 ‘‘(I) the renewable fuel obligation 3 established for the most recent year 4 for which such obligation was deter- 5 mined and published in the Federal 6 Register in accordance with clause 7 (iii); or 8 ‘‘(II) if no such obligation has 9 been determined and published in ac- 10 cordance with clause (iii), the renew- 11 able fuel obligation established for the 12 most recent year which otherwise 13 meets the 9.70 percent limitation in 14 clause (iii).’’. 15 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:39 May 14, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 \\ALPHA3\E\BILLS\H2540.IH H2540 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42 with BILLS