WASHINGTON- House and Senate spending bills would drastically reduce Environmental Protection Agency dollars for a law designed to boost ethanol use.
President Bush has requested $11.4 million for the EPA to implement parts of a federal energy law that includes writing rules for a new renewable fuels standard. It requires refiners to use 7.5 billion gallons of ethanol in gasoline annually by 2012.
Spending committees in the House and Senate have recommended only a small percentage of what the president wanted. The bill passed by the House recommends $2.4 million, and the bill pending on the Senate floor recommends $1.4 million.
EPA spokeswoman Enesta Jones said the agency is still analyzing the funding recommendations. Among other things, Jones said, the $11.4 million would be used to:
Develop a renewable fuel standard and do "comprehensive analyses and studies."
Develop a new electronic reporting system to verify compliance.
Begin a study of the emission and air-quality changes resulting from the new standards.
"It surely retards the agency's effectiveness in coming up with a comprehensive program," said Charles Drevna, executive vice president of the National Petrochemical and Refiners Association. Drevna's group opposed creation of the renewable fuels standard, but wants it done quickly so refiners know what they are expected to do.
"It would be unfortunate if one hand of Congress says this should be done while the other hand says, 'No, we aren't going to be funding it for you,' " Drevna said. "It's a catch-22 situation for the EPA and the obligated parties."
Drevna said his group is particularly worried that, without full funding, the EPA will not be able to study environmental and other effects of increased ethanol use. If the effects of boosting renewable fuel use are not known soon, he said, refiners and their customers could be slapped with additional costs later.
Environmentalists also worry about the lack of money.
"It's as if they haven't read their own press releases about the need to promote alternatives to gasoline," said Frank O'Donnell, president of the Washington advocacy group Clean Air Watch.
House lawmakers did not respond to requests for comment, but a spokesman for Sen. Conrad Burns, the Montana Republican who chairs the Senate subcommittee, said Burns expects the funding to increase in final House-Senate negotiations on the bill.
"If we find out that the money is insufficient, we will deal with it then," said Burns spokesman Derek Hunter.
Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., the top Democrat on the Senate subcommittee, said he expects senators to increase the funding to the House amount, $2.4 billion, in the House-Senate conference committee.
Dorgan said he believes the EPA needs that amount to write the new rules. Beyond that, he said, the EPA will have to use its existing resources to develop the law.
"We've got a lot of money in a lot of different accounts for biofuels and ethanol," he said. "This appropriation would not in any way threaten the progress of the renewable fuel standard."
Dorgan said he would prefer to fully fund all the requests, but finding any extra dollars is tough.
"It's very hard because we are $400 million short from what we need just to keep pace with last year," he said of the EPA's budget request. "Obviously, there are consequences with that."
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Gary Chandler
wrote on
August 14, 2006 5:51 AM I don't know how to break this to you Montana politicians, but the three things (see below) you want to spend this funding on has already been accomplished at the federal level. Most of the software is available Commercially Off the Shelf (COTS). Why is it you insist on "reinventing the wheel"? If political rhetoric and BS were containable gas, we would never have to spend another penny on fossil fuel. Alternative fuel i.e., E 84 and Biodiesel will do nothing but give the farmers good crops to grow, improve the quality of air, get the US troops out of the Middle East.
1) Develop a renewable fuel standard and do "comprehensive analyses and studies."
2) Develop a new electronic reporting system to verify compliance.
3) Begin a study of the emission and air-quality changes resulting from the new standards.
DC
wrote on
August 14, 2006 2:07 PM Gary RIGHT ON
Grandma
wrote on
August 14, 2006 3:58 PM Now are you suprised??? If our government would allow the production of ethanol, this would take money out of their prockets. The oil Companies and our government would not like that. The oil companies and our government would lose the money they have been pocketing for the last couple of years on false reports of shortages and ethanol would keep the prices of fuel down. No they would not want that!!!
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