Upton, Waxman Launch Debate on Biofuels Mandate

For the first time since President Obama won the White House in 2008, the top Republican and Democrat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are working collaboratively on a controversial piece of energy policy: the renewable-fuels standard.

Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., and ranking member Henry Waxman, D-Calif., will release on Wednesday the first of a series of white papers seeking input about how, if at all, Congress should change the renewable-fuels mandate, National Journal has learned.?

?As part of a bipartisan review, the committee plans to release a series of white papers examining a number of issues emerging with the RFS,? said a committee aide who would speak only on the condition of anonymity since the papers have not yet been released.

The RFS, which mandates production of increasing amounts of biofuels annually, was part of a comprehensive energy bill signed by President Bush in 2005 and expanded two years later as part of a drive to make the country more energy independent.

The first white paper will address the ?blend wall,? according to the committee aide. The blend wall represents the point at which the ethanol market cannot be blended any further because of current regulations. The Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees the mandate, currently allows 10 percent of ethanol to be blended with gasoline for all vehicles. The ethanol industry is close to or has already surpassed this ?blend wall,? according to several reports, including one by EPA.

Refineries, which must blend the biofuels with gasoline, meet most of the standard by using ethanol produced from corn. EPA came under fire from both Democrats and Republicans last summer because they believed the RFS was exacerbating problems for a corn crop already hit hard by the record-setting drought. Corn prices were at record highs in July?up more than 50 percent in just two months?in direct response to the drought that?s afflicting most of the country?s corn crop, which, in addition to providing fuel, provides feedstock to the poultry, pork, and cattle industries.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/upton-waxman-launch-debate-biofuels-mandate-161124577--politics.html

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