Pat Danner: “in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oilspill, the Congress passed legislation known as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This…”

“in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oilspill, the Congress passed legislation known as the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This law created important environmental regulations aimed at reducing the risk of oil spills. But while the Oil Pollution Act was designed to prevent environmental harm from petroleum oil spills, it was applied by many Federal agencies to animal fats and vegetable oils. The result of these errant regulations are lower profits for producers in the agricultural sector, higher costs to shippers and users of vegetable oils, and in the final analysis, higher costs for virtually all processed food items we consume. Because of the sweeping definitions in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Federal agencies have failed to make the sensible, logical, and obvious distinctions between toxic and edible oils. Now it is necessary for Congress to direct the Federal agencies to start regulating those oils separately. The Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act is intended to stop Government from regulating these oils in the same manner as petroleum. Federal agencies must consider differences in the physical, biological, chemical makeup of the oils and the possible effects of spills on the environment. Mr. Speaker, laws and regulations must have purpose. They should meet the simple standard of either protecting the public good from realistic threats or generally improving people's lives. Above all, our laws must be reasonable.…”