Bill Text: NJ AR117 | 2020-2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Condemns President Trump's decision to allow sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol during summer months.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-02-25 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Environment and Solid Waste Committee [AR117 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2020-AR117-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman NANCY J. PINKIN
District 18 (Middlesex)
SYNOPSIS
Condemns President Trump's decision to allow sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol during summer months.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Assembly Resolution condemning President Trump's decision to allow the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol during the summer months.
Whereas, In October 2018, President Donald J. Trump announced that he had directed the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to begin formulating new rules that would allow the sale of gasoline that contains 15 percent ethanol (E15) during the summer months; and
Whereas, In May 2019, the EPA finalized a rule that allows the sale of E15 during the summer months; and
Whereas, Formerly, EPA rules prohibited the sale of E15 gasoline during the summer months because it is more volatile than standard gasoline and may lead to the increased formation of ground-level ozone and smog, especially in warm temperatures; and
Whereas, A 2007 law that required ethanol to be added to gasoline had unexpected deleterious environmental consequences, including the development of five million acres of land set aside for conservation--an area bigger than Yellowstone National Park, Everglades National Park, and Yosemite National Park combined, and the worsening of fertilizer pollution in Midwestern rivers and the Gulf of Mexico; and
Whereas, The consequences of the 2007 law were so negative that environmentalists and many scientists have now rejected corn-based ethanol as poor environmental policy, and President Trump's decision could exacerbate the negative consequences of this policy; and
Whereas, The EPA's rule change may increase the demand for corn-based ethanol, and may cause even more natural land to be developed; and
Whereas, Even considered solely as a fuel, E15 gasoline is of dubious environmental value, because it produces carbon dioxide, and may cause increased emissions of nitrogen oxides, which contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tropospheric ozone; and
Whereas, The EPA has concluded in the past on two occasions that it does not have the authority to allow the sale of E15 gasoline during the summer months, and Judge Brett Kavanaugh, in a 2012 United States Court of Appeals decision, found, in dicta, that the EPA cannot change the rule without an act of Congress; and
Whereas, Congress considered this issue in 2017 and decided not to allow the sale of E15 gasoline during the summer months; and
Whereas,
The American Petroleum Institute said in a statement following the rule change
that the "EPA has acted outside its statutory authority in granting year-round
E15 and rushed through the rulemaking process;" now, therefore,
Be It Resolved by the General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. This House condemns President Donald Trump's direction to the United States Environmental Protection Agency to allow the use of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol during the summer months.
2. Copies of this resolution, as filed with the Secretary of State, shall be transmitted by the Clerk of the General Assembly to the President and Vice President of the United States; the Majority and Minority Leaders of the United States Senate; The Speaker and Minority Leader of the United States House of Representatives; and every member of Congress elected from this State.
STATEMENT
This resolution condemns President Trump's direction to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to allow the sale of gasoline containing 15 percent ethanol (E15) during the summer months.
