The Hill
A draft Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) report contradicts President Bush’s suggestion that boutique fuels, designed to cut pollution from cars and trucks, have contributed to higher gasoline prices.
While they could complicate gasoline distribution when a hurricane or pipeline rupture disrupts supplies, the various fuel types used by states have provided “significant, cost-effective air-quality improvements,” the report states.
The report was written by state and federal officials who were brought together at the direction of the president as he searched for solutions to high gasoline prices, which spiked to over $3 a gallon in the spring.
It was in that context that Bush gave a speech to the Renewable Fuels Association in which he said boutique fuels were one reason for the price increases.
“When you have an uncoordinated, overly complex set of fuel rules, it tends to cause prices to go up,” Bush said. The president also called for wider use of alternative fuels and for high mileage standards for cars.
House Republicans also pointed to boutique fuels as a contributor to supply problems. Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Joe Barton (Texas) introduced a bill to limit the number of boutique fuels, but he backed off after industry and government officials expressed doubts that the fuel types were a major contributor to the price increase.
“[The bill] went from something I was ready to mark up the next week to wait and see,” Barton said after the hearing....
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