Chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee Fred Upton (R-Mich.), who is leading a review of the Renewable Fuel Standard, recently selected four GOP members to lead a committee on RFS reform.
Upton and Ranking Committee Member Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) offered praise for the panel’s comprehensive review of the RFS and said the bipartisan collaboration will continue during the upcoming August district work period.
“We began this year with an understanding that the time had come for a review of the RFS and a belief that bipartisanship was our best path forward,” Waxman and Upton said. “We have spent the past four months conducting careful analysis, soliciting stakeholder feedback, and listening to expert testimony. The process has been a success, giving both members and the public an opportunity to better understand a policy that is both complex and far-reaching.”
Upton selected Reps. Cory Gardner (R-Colo), Lee Terry (R-Neb.), Steve Scalise (R-La.) and John Shimkus (R-Ill.) to draft legislation taking into account concerns related to the RFS, according to Committee Spokeswoman Charlotte Baker. There is no established deadline for proposals to be released.
Shimkus has expressed his support of a solution that would benefit both ethanol producers and oil companies.
“I’m standing squarely with a foot in both bodies, and it’s my goal and desire to get to a solution that benefits us all, not one side over the other,” Shimkus said.
Scalise, however, advocates total repeal of the mandate.
“When I talk to my colleagues who represent those districts that are heavy, intensive with farmers, that maybe today are benefiting from this monopoly that they have with the RFS, they recognize that this is unworkable,” Scalise said. “They recognize that come next year, changes need to happen.”