AAERO Act

II 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION S. 1962 To provide increased funding and opportunities to achieve national, long- term production goals for sustainable aviation fuel, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES JUNE 13, 2023 Mr. WARNOCK (for himself, Ms. DUCKWORTH, Mr. OSSOFF, and Mr. BROWN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation A BILL To provide increased funding and opportunities to achieve national, long-term production goals for sustainable avia- tion fuel, 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 ‘‘Advancing Aviation 4 Emissions Reduction Opportunities Act’’ or the ‘‘AAERO 5 Act’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 2 •S 1962 IS SEC. 2. ALTERNATIVE FUEL AND LOW-EMISSION AVIATION 1 TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 40007 of Public Law 3 117–169 (49 U.S.C. 44504 note) is amended— 4 (1) in subsection (b)— 5 (A) by redesignating paragraphs (2) 6 through (5) as paragraphs (4) through (7), re- 7 spectively; 8 (B) by redesignating paragraph (1) as 9 paragraph (2); 10 (C) by inserting before paragraph (2) (as 11 redesignated by subparagraph (B)), the fol- 12 lowing: 13 ‘‘(1) the importance of using grants to assist 14 with capital expenditures for facilities deploying 15 technologies that are scalable and can help meet na- 16 tional long-term sustainable aviation fuel production 17 goals established under the Sustainable Aviation 18 Fuel Grand Challenge Memorandum;’’; and 19 (D) by inserting after paragraph (2) (as 20 redesignated by subparagraph (B)), the fol- 21 lowing: 22 ‘‘(3) the capacity of the project to scale to help 23 meet national long-term sustainable aviation fuel 24 production goals established under the Sustainable 25 Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge Memorandum;’’; 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 3 •S 1962 IS (2) in subsection (c)— 1 (A) by striking ‘‘shall be 75 percent’’ and 2 inserting ‘‘shall not exceed 75 percent’’; 3 (B) by striking ‘‘shall increase to 90 per- 4 cent’’ and inserting ‘‘may be increased to 90 5 percent’’; and 6 (C) by inserting ‘‘, and requests an in- 7 crease in the Federal share’’ before the period; 8 (3) by striking subsection (d) and inserting the 9 following: 10 ‘‘(d) LIFECYCLE GREENHOUSE GAS EMISSIONS RE- 11 DUCTION PERCENTAGE.—For purposes of subsection 12 (e)(6)(C), the term ‘‘ ‘lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions 13 reduction percentage’ ’’ means, with respect to any sus- 14 tainable aviation fuel, the percentage reduction in lifecycle 15 greenhouse gas emissions achieved by such fuel as com- 16 pared with petroleum-based jet fuel, as defined in accord- 17 ance with any one or more of the following: 18 ‘‘(1) The most recent Carbon Offsetting and 19 Reduction Scheme for International Aviation which 20 has been adopted by the International Civil Aviation 21 Organization with the agreement of the United 22 States. 23 ‘‘(2) The most recent version of the Argonne 24 National Laboratory Greenhouse gases, Regulated 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 4 •S 1962 IS Emissions, and Energy use in Technologies 1 (GREET) model, as determined by the Secretary of 2 Energy. 3 ‘‘(3) Any similar methodology which satisfies 4 the criteria under section 211(o)(1)(H) of the Clean 5 Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7545(o)(1)(H)), as in effect on 6 the date of enactment of this section, including the 7 methodology established by the Environmental Pro- 8 tection Agency under subpart M of part 80 of title 9 40, Code of Federal Regulations.’’; 10 (4) in subsection (e)— 11 (A) by striking paragraphs (3) and (4), 12 and inserting the following; 13 ‘‘(3) LIFECYCLE GREENHOUSE GAS EMIS- 14 SIONS.—Subject to subsection (d), the term ‘lifecycle 15 greenhouse gas emissions’ means the aggregate 16 quantity of greenhouse gas emissions (including di- 17 rect emissions and significant indirect emissions 18 such as significant emissions from land use changes) 19 related to the full fuel lifecycle, including all stages 20 of fuel and feedstock production and distribution, 21 from feedstock generation or extraction through the 22 distribution and delivery and use of the finished fuel 23 to the ultimate consumer, where the mass values for 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 5 •S 1962 IS all greenhouse gases are adjusted to account for 1 their relative global warming potential.’’; 2 (B) by redesignating paragraphs (5) and 3 (6) as paragraphs (4) and (5), respectively; 4 (C) in paragraph (4)(B) (as redesignated 5 by subparagraph (B)), by striking ‘‘increase 6 utilization’’ and inserting ‘‘develop, dem- 7 onstrate, apply, or produce sustainable aviation 8 fuel that is likely to result in the increased utili- 9 zation’’; and 10 (D) by striking paragraph (7) and insert- 11 ing the following: 12 ‘‘(6) SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL.—The term 13 ‘‘ ‘sustainable aviation fuel’ ’’ means liquid fuel, the 14 portion of which is not kerosene, which— 15 ‘‘(A) meets the requirements of— 16 ‘‘(i) ASTM International Standard 17 D7566; or 18 ‘‘(ii) the co-processing provisions of 19 ASTM International Standard D1655, 20 Annex A1 (or such successor standard); 21 ‘‘(B) is not derived from palm fatty acid 22 distillates or petroleum; and 23 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 6 •S 1962 IS ‘‘(C) in accordance with subsection (d), 1 achieves a lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions re- 2 duction percentage of at least 50 percent. 3 ‘‘(7) SUSTAINABLE AVIATION FUEL GRAND 4 CHALLENGE MEMORANDUM.—The term ‘Sustainable 5 Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge Memorandum’ 6 means the Memorandum of Understanding among 7 the Department of Energy, the Department of 8 Transportation, and the Department of Agriculture 9 (relating to launching a government-wide Sustain- 10 able Aviation Fuel Grand Challenge (the Grand 11 Challenge) to reduce the cost, enhance the sustain- 12 ability, and expand the production and use of Sus- 13 tainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) that achieves a min- 14 imum of a 50 percent reduction in lifecycle green- 15 house gas (GHG) emissions compared to conven- 16 tional fuel to meet a goal of supplying sufficient 17 SAF to meet 100 percent of aviation fuel demand by 18 2050), signed on September 8, 2021.’’; and 19 (5) by adding at the end the following: 20 ‘‘(f) ADDITIONAL FUNDING.—In addition to the 21 amounts appropriated under subsection (a), there is au- 22 thorized to be appropriated to the Secretary for fiscal year 23 2024, to remain available until expended— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB 7 •S 1962 IS ‘‘(1) $489,258,000 for projects described in 1 subsection (a)(1); 2 ‘‘(2) $209,682,000 for projects described in 3 subsection (a)(2); and 4 ‘‘(3) $4,060,000 to carry out subsection 5 (a)(3).’’. 6 (b) RETROACTIVE EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amend- 7 ments made by subsection (a) shall take effect as if in- 8 cluded in the enactment of section 40007 of Public Law 9 117–169. 10 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:30 Jul 06, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S1962.IS S1962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with $$_JOB