Dianne Feinstein: “I would like to sum up on behalf of the sponsors of this amendment. The amendment deletes this particular renewable fuel…”

“I would like to sum up on behalf of the sponsors of this amendment. The amendment deletes this particular renewable fuel mandate from the bill. This is a tripling of ethanol. It may be fine in the Midwest where all the facilities that produce ethanol are located, but for those of us on the west coast and those of us on the east coast, it is truly egregious. One of the reasons it is egregious is that we don't have the infrastructure to really accept it. Another reason is that, for many of us, our gasoline is already reformulated and already meets clean air standards and therefore we are forced to use a specific product, ethanol, way in excess of what is necessary. Sure, we want to be relieved from the MTBE oxygenate requirement. But to replace it with a renewable fuels requirement that mandates a tripling of this additive on States that do not need it imposes some very substantial detriments. I would like to read from the letter from the Governor of California.”