Lincoln Chafee: “if my colleagues would permit, I would like to add a few comments of my own on the subject of the Burns sense…”

“if my colleagues would permit, I would like to add a few comments of my own on the subject of the Burns sense- of-the-Senate included in the managers' amendment. As my colleagues may know, earlier this spring a World Trade Organization [WTO] panel found that a 1993 regulation adopted by the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] discriminated against imports. The regulation in question established baselines against which refiners must measure compliance with requirements under the Clean Air Act for conventional and reformulated gasoline. In coming to its conclusions, the WTO panel noted that the United States had not fully explored ways to overcome the administrative difficulties relating to imported gasoline, and that although the United States had considered the costs to domestic refiners of complying with the regulation, the same consideration was not given to the costs that would be incurred by foreign refiners. On June 19, the United States informed the WTO that we would endeavor to meet our international obligations by complying with the panel decision. This case has received a good deal of attention, and provoked a good deal of comment. Unfortunately, many of the assertions that have been made about this case misinterpret both its meaning and its effect. As chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, I regret such misinterpretations, and want to take a moment to set the record straight.”