U.S. Legislative Issues

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a notice indicating that the comment period for its Tier 3 rulemaking for motor vehicle emission standards will be extended until July 1. The previous deadline for comments was June 13. The proposed regulations will provide further reductions in emissions of smog-forming volatile organic compounds, nitrous oxides and particulate matter from vehicles, and more closely align EPA and California regulations. The proposal would cut sulfur levels in gasoline by two-thirds by 2017. Specifically, the standards would reduce the amount of sulfur in gasoline to 10 parts per million from 30. EPA has asked whether it should impose similar requirement on in-use natural gas and also natural gas certification test fuel.


Legislation has been introduced in the House and Senate to base the federal tax of LNG on the energy output rather than per gallon. The "LNG Excise Tax Equalization Act" (S. 1103, H.R. 2202) was introduced in the Senate by Sens. Michael Bennet (D-CO) and Richard Burr (R-NC) and by Reps. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) and John Larson (D-CT). Currently, the excise tax rate for both LNG and Diesel Fuel is set at 24.3 cents per gallon, however LNG produces less energy per gallon than diesel fuel. It takes about 1.7 gallons of LNG to equal the energy in 1 gallon of diesel fuel, resulting in LNG being taxed at 170 percent of the rate of diesel fuel on an energy equivalent basis. The proposed legislation changes the way LNG is taxed—from a volume (gallon) to an energy content (diesel gallon equivalent) basis.


The federal National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has proposed that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) evaluate requiring drivers of trucks weighing less than 26,001 pounds to hold Commercial Drivers Licenses (CDL). This major recommendation is one of many suggestions that came out of the NTSB's meeting on June 4, 2013, which was held to discuss a pending NTSB report on crashes involving single-unit trucks that resulted in injuries and deaths. 

The CDL requirement is one of sixteen specific recommendations expected to be made to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the FMCSA and the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). Most of the recommendations involved the development of performance standards and safety equipment mandates for vehicles weighing more than 10,000 pounds. These included asking for the development of standards and mandates for blind spot detection systems and side and rear underride protection systems for new straight trucks. The NTSB also requests that the federal government require single-unit trucks already in service to be retrofitted with a broader array of lamps, reflective devices and other visibility-related safety equipment currently required for truck tractors and trailers.

NAFA’s Safety Advisory Council is presently reviewing the NTSB recommendations. A summary of the NTSB recommendations is available here.


The Energy Policy, Health Care, and Entitlements Subcommittee of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee held a hearing on the Renewable Fuels Standard recently titled "Up Against the Blend Wall: Examining EPA’s Role in the Renewable Fuel Standard."

In his opening, Subcommittee Chairman, Rep. James Lankford (R-OK), noted that there is evidence that the RFS is not meeting the original bi-fold purpose: "to move the United States toward greater energy independence and security," and "to increase the production of clean renewable fuels." Further, Lankford pointed to the market change since 2005 and 2007, as well as the current domestic energy boom and stated that corn-based ethanol may not be any cleaner than gasoline – a problem when considering it has other environmental consequences, such as using more water for producing corn-based energy than refining gasoline.

The standard, administered by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), calls for increased levels of biofuel to be mixed into transportation fuel, though some car companies warn new levels aren't safe. The standard was created under the 2005 Energy Policy Act and requires 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be blended into transportation fuel by 2022.

Industry representatives and Republicans on the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's Energy Policy, Health Care and Entitlements Subcommittee claimed that the standard was increasing the cost of gas at the pump. Jack Gerard, President and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute testified that the RFS is "irreparably broken and posed to do significant harm to consumers, the economy and the nation’s fuel supply."

Gerard also said, "EPA is currently facing the biggest test of all – the E10 blendwall." He said that the renewable fuel mandates in the RFS increase yearly, while demand for fuel in the U.S. is dropping, creating a situation known as the E10 blendwall. When this happens, refiners will be forced to blend a fuel with more than 10 percent ethanol  or reduce production to meet the mandate, thus creating a crisis for consumers, whose automobiles are built and warranted for E10. In fact, most consumer engines are designed for an E10 blend, including small engines, such as motorcycles, boats, and lawnmowers.