No Fuel Credits for Batteries Act of 2023

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1741 To amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers from participating in the renewable fuel program, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 18, 2023 Mr. GRASSLEY (for himself and Mr. CORNYN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Environment and Public Works A BILL To amend the Clean Air Act to prohibit electric vehicle original equipment manufacturers from participating in 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 ‘‘No Fuel Credits for 4 Batteries Act of 2023’’. 5 SEC. 2. REVISIONS TO CREDIT PROGRAM. 6 (a) AMENDMENTS.—Section 211(o)(5) of the Clean 7 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(5)) is amended— 8 (1) in subparagraph (A)— 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 1741 IS (A) in clause (ii), by striking ‘‘and’’ at the 1 end; 2 (B) in clause (iii), by striking the period at 3 the end and inserting ‘‘; and’’; and 4 (C) by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘(iv) for the prohibition of generation 6 of credits by electric vehicle original equip- 7 ment manufacturers (as defined in section 8 3(a) of the No Fuel Credits for Batteries 9 Act of 2023).’’; 10 (2) in subparagraph (B)— 11 (A) by striking ‘‘A person’’ and inserting 12 the following: 13 ‘‘(i) IN GENERAL.—Except as pro- 14 vided in clause (ii), a person’’; and 15 (B) by adding at the end the following: 16 ‘‘(ii) EXCEPTION.—A person that is 17 an electric vehicle original equipment man- 18 ufacturer (as defined in section 3(a) of the 19 No Fuel Credits for Batteries Act of 2023) 20 may not, for the purpose of complying with 21 paragraph (2), use or transfer all or a por- 22 tion of the credits to another person.’’; and 23 (3) in subparagraph (E)— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 1741 IS (A) by striking the period at the end and 1 inserting ‘‘; and’’; 2 (B) by striking ‘‘Administrator; and (ii) 3 for the use’’ and inserting the following: ‘‘Ad- 4 ministrator; 5 ‘‘(ii) for the use’’; 6 (C) by striking ‘‘regulations providing: (i) 7 for the generation’’ and inserting the following: 8 ‘‘regulations providing— 9 ‘‘(i) for the generation’’; and 10 (D) by adding at the end the following: 11 ‘‘(iii) for the prohibition of the gen- 12 eration, use, or transfer of the appropriate 13 amount of credits by electric vehicle origi- 14 nal equipment manufacturers (as defined 15 in section 3(a) of the No Fuel Credits for 16 Batteries Act of 2023) for additional re- 17 newable fuel.’’. 18 (b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 180 days after 19 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator of 20 the Environmental Protection Agency shall promulgate a 21 final rule to carry out the amendments made by subsection 22 (a). 23 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 24 subsection (a) take effect on January 1, 2024. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 1741 IS SEC. 3. INELIGIBILITY FOR RENEWABLE FUEL STANDARD. 1 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 2 (1) ADMINISTRATOR.—The term ‘‘Adminis- 3 trator’’ means the Administrator of the Environ- 4 mental Protection Agency. 5 (2) ELECTRIC VEHICLE ORIGINAL EQUIPMENT 6 MANUFACTURER.—The term ‘‘electric vehicle origi- 7 nal equipment manufacturer’’ means the original 8 equipment manufacturer of— 9 (A) an electric light-duty vehicle; or 10 (B) an electric light-duty truck. 11 (3) PROPOSED ERIN PROGRAM.—The term 12 ‘‘proposed eRIN program’’ means the program gov- 13 erning the generation of renewable identification 14 numbers representing renewable electricity by elec- 15 tric vehicle original equipment manufacturers, as de- 16 scribed in— 17 (A) the proposed rule of the Environ- 18 mental Protection Agency entitled ‘‘Renewable 19 Fuel Standard (RFS) Program: Standards for 20 2023–2025 and Other Changes’’ (87 Fed. Reg. 21 80582 (December 30, 2022)) (or any successor 22 or substantially related proposal); 23 (B) the regulatory impact analysis of the 24 Assessment and Standards Division of the Of- 25 fice of Transportation and Air Quality of the 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 1741 IS Environmental Protection Agency entitled 1 ‘‘Draft Regulatory Impact Analysis: RFS 2 Standards for 2023–2025 and Other Changes’’, 3 with docket number EPA–HQ–OAR–2021– 4 0427–0267, and dated November 2022; and 5 (C) the memorandum of the Office of 6 Transportation and Air Quality of the Environ- 7 mental Protection Agency entitled ‘‘Examples 8 of RIN generation under the proposed RFS 9 eRIN provisions’’, with docket number EPA– 10 HQ–OAR–2021–0427–0032, and dated Novem- 11 ber 22, 2022. 12 (4) RENEWABLE FUEL.—The term ‘‘renewable 13 fuel’’ has the meaning given the term in section 14 211(o)(1) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 15 7545(o)(1)). 16 (5) RENEWABLE FUEL PROGRAM.—The term 17 ‘‘renewable fuel program’’ means the renewable fuel 18 program under section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act 19 (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)). 20 (6) RENEWABLE IDENTIFICATION NUMBER.— 21 The term ‘‘renewable identification number’’ has the 22 meaning given the term ‘‘Renewable Identification 23 Number (RIN)’’ in section 80.1401 of title 40, Code 24 of Federal Regulations (or a successor regulation). 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:29 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 1741 IS (b) RULE REQUIRED.—Not later than 180 days after 1 the date of enactment of this Act, the Administrator shall 2 promulgate a final rule revising the regulations for car- 3 rying out the renewable fuel program that— 4 (1) in accordance with the amendments made 5 by section 2(a), makes electric vehicle original equip- 6 ment manufacturers ineligible for the generation, 7 use, or transfer of renewable electricity renewable 8 identification numbers for compliance with, or any 9 other purpose under, the renewable fuel program; 10 (2) withdraws the proposed eRIN program; 11 (3) maintains the current equivalence value for 12 renewable electricity as described in section 80.1415 13 of title 40, Code of Federal Regulations (as in effect 14 on the date of enactment of this Act); and 15 (4) eliminates the provisions of the proposed 16 rule described in subsection (a)(3)(A) affiliated with 17 the proposed eRIN program. 18 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE OF REGULATIONS.—The final 19 rule required under subsection (b) shall take effect on 20 January 1, 2024. 21 SEC. 4. SAVINGS PROVISION. 22 Nothing in this Act or an amendment made by this 23 Act limits the authority of the Administrator of the Envi- 24 ronmental Protection Agency to approve new fuel path- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •S 1741 IS ways or review existing fuel pathways under the renewable 1 fuel program under section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act 2 (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)). 3 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 06:38 Jun 02, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1741.IS S1741 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS