Bill Flores: “I rise to offer an amendment which addresses another misguided and restrictive Federal regulation. Section 526 of the…”

“I rise to offer an amendment which addresses another misguided and restrictive Federal regulation. Section 526 of the Energy Independence and Security Act prevents Federal agencies from entering into contracts for the procurement of fuels unless their life cycles of greenhouse gas emissions are less than or equal to emissions from an equivalent conventional fuel produced from conventional petroleum sources. In summary, my amendment would stop the government from enforcing this ban on all Federal agencies funded by the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. The initial purpose of section 526 was to stop the Defense Department's plans to buy and develop coal-based and/or coal-to-liquids jet fuel. This restriction was based on the opinion of some environmentalists that coal-based jet fuel might produce more greenhouse gas emissions than traditional petroleum-derived fuels. Unfortunately, the ban on the fuel choices of section 526 has been expanded to include all Federal agencies, not just the Defense Department. This is why I am offering this amendment to the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development appropriations bill. Federal agencies should not be burdened with wasting their time in studying fuel restrictions when there is a simple fix. That fix is to not restrict our fuel choices based on extreme environmental views, bad policies and misguided regulations like those in section 526.…”