{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2025/9/lee-supports-trump-energy-agenda-with-protections-for-utah-energy-producers", "Lee Supports Trump Energy Agenda with Protections for Utah Energy Producers", "2025-09-09", "2025", "2025-09", "Republican", "Senate", "UT", "Mike Lee", "L000577", "www.lee.senate.gov", "mikelee", "https://www.lee.senate.gov/press-releases", "scraper", "WASHINGTON \u2013 U.S. Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) introduced legislation today to support President Trump\u2019s American energy dominance agenda and shield Americans from artificially high gas prices by protecting Utah oil refineries from unfair fines by the federal government. The Protect Consumers from Reallocation Costs Act would block the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from forcing refineries to shoulder forgiven fines from refineries that do not meet the EPA\u2019s environmental standards. U.S. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Ted Cruz (R-TX), and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) cosponsored the legislation, which received endorsements from the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers and the American Energy Alliance.\n\n\u201cThe Protect Consumers from Reallocation Costs Act advances President Trump\u2019s growth agenda for American energy and lowers costs for hardworking families, ensuring that refineries in Utah and across the nation are not subjected to unlawful regulations invented by DC lobbyists,\u201d said Senator Mike Lee. \u201cNowhere in the Clean Air Act does it say that the swampy corn lobby can force Americans to pay more for their products. By jamming through more biofuels and environmental compliance costs, the corn lobby is stifling US energy producers and jacking up the price of fuel. It\u2019s bad for refineries, bad for American families, and bad for American energy independence.\u201d\n\n\u201cOur refineries play a critical role in supplying Wyoming families and businesses with affordable energy. Outrageous compliance costs under the Renewable Fuel Standard threaten to raise prices for families across the country,\u201d said Senator John Barrasso. \u201cOur legislation will prevent increased compliance costs and help keep gas prices down for the people of Wyoming.\u201d\n\n\u201cThe small refinery exemption was meant to provide relief, not shift costs onto larger refineries,\u201d said Senator Cynthia Lummis. \u201cI\u2019m proud to join my western colleagues in introducing legislation that preserves fairness and common sense at the EPA by clarifying Congress\u2019 intent. This will prevent unfair compliance costs, protect Wyoming jobs while keeping gas prices down for people throughout the Cowboy State, and uphold President Trump\u2019s commitment to unleashing American energy.\u201d\n\n\u201cAs if a $70 billion RFS price tag and a mandate for record imports wasn\u2019t enough, the U.S. EPA is threatening to further undercut the President\u2019s energy dominance agenda by reallocating more than a billion gallons of exempted RFS volumes from small refiners to their competitors. This is akin to your neighbor getting a tax break and the IRS showing up at your doorstep with the bill. It is simply wrong and will not meaningfully change the volume of corn ethanol that gets blended into American gasoline. We\u2019re grateful to Senator Lee for introducing this legislation that will make it explicitly clear that EPA cannot re-assign massive regulatory burdens from one refinery to others. This bill will save American consumers billions of dollars. It will benefit U.S. energy security and help to ensure that American fuel manufacturers use more of their resources on productive things \u2014 like jobs, facility construction projects, and energy infrastructure \u2014 instead of red tape from the EPA.\u201d \u2013 Chet Thompson, CEO and President, American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers\n\nBackground\n\nThe EPA requires refineries in the U.S. to include a minimum volume of renewable fuel (e.g., ethanol, biodiesel, etc.) in all fuel sold, or pay to make up for any level of noncompliance. Small refineries may be granted exemptions if complying would cause \u201cdisproportionate economic hardship.\u201d\n\nThe EPA is currently considering whether to reallocate forgiven payments over to non-exempt refineries, forcing compliant producers to shoulder even more costs despite no authorization from the Clean Air Act to do so.\n\nThis is an antiquated Bush-era program that originated in a time when there were fears about an \u201caddiction to foreign oil\u201d and a looming cliff for domestic oil production, seeking to turn the industry toward biofuels. Despite those fears proving unfounded, the program escalates its requirements each period, with the most recent Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) being the highest ever proposed.\n\nBy the EPA\u2019s own calculation, the proposed rule would impose compliance costs of approximately $6.7 billion per year, while returning benefits of only $200 million per year. The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) estimates that compliance costs are closer to $70 billion.\n\nThis is simply a handout for the biofuel and agriculture industries at the expense of American refineries and consumers, who will see prices at the pump increase if the EPA moves forward with its proposed rule and reallocation of exempted payments.\n\nThe Protect Consumers from Reallocation Costs Act would protect Americans from artificially high gas prices by blocking the EPA from forcing refineries to shoulder unfair fines.\n\nRead bill text of the Protect Consumers from Reallocation Costs Act here.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T19:10:29Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.lee.senate.gov/2025/9/lee-supports-trump-energy-agenda-with-protections-for-utah-energy-producers"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.447126967832446, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}