Sen. Pat Toomey’s (R-Pa.) “anti-RFS” amendment to the American Crude Oil Export Equality Act was defeated 7 to 15 during a Senate Banking Committee mark-up last week. The amendment takes the drastic step of opening section 211(o) of the Clean Air Act, outside of the jurisdiction of the Senate Banking Committee, to delete the entire portion of the statute setting blending targets for first generation corn ethanol. The amendment, if adopted, would have destabilized the regulatory and investment environment for renewable fuels.
 
Farm Bureau urged rejection of the Toomey amendment and opposes other proposed legislative changes to the Renewable Fuels Standard.