 XXXX Voted Against Allowing States To Decide Whether To Require Ethanol In Gasoline. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment that would have allowed states to decide whether ethanol should be required as an additive in gasoline. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the amendment’s sponsor, argued that requiring that California refiners use ethanol could cause supply shortages and lead to price spikes at the pump. She argued the requirement would have benefited mainly Midwest corn farmers and ethanol producers. The Feinstein amendment would have allowed states to exempt refiners from using ethanol if it could demonstrate to the EPA that federal clean air standards could be met without the corn-based additive. [Vote 203, 6/3/03; AP, 6/3/03]  XXXX Voted Against Allowing Governors To Opt Out of Ethanol Requirements. In 2003, XXXX voted against an amendment that would have allowed governors to decide whether ethanol should be required as an additive in gasoline. The amendment, which was sponsored by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, was offered to a bill that would require gasoline refineries to use 5 billion gallons of ethanol or other alternative renewable fuels annually by 2012. [Vote 204, 6/3/03; AP, 6/3/03]  XXXX Voted To Allow State and Geographic Exemptions to Ethanol Requirements If Gas Prices Rose. In 2003, XXXX voted to give the President authority to exempt a state or geographic region from specific ethanol requirements for 30 days if the Energy secretary determined that the requirements had caused or would cause the average cost of gasoline to increase by at least 10 cents per gallon. [Vote 206, 6/4/03]  XXXXVoted to Exempt All But Midwestern States From Ethanol Mandate. In June 2003, XXXXvoted to exempt all states except for those in the Midwest from the energy bill’s ethanol mandate. [Vote 207, 6/5/03] XXXX Voted to Increase Liability Standards For Renewable Fuels and Ethanol. In 2003 and 2005, XXXX voted to require that a renewable fuel used for motor vehicles or a fuel containing a renewable additive be subject to liability standards equal to or greater than those used for any other fuel or fuel additive. The amendment would have required gasoline refineries to use 5 billion gallons of ethanol or other alternative renewable fuels annually by 2012, phased out the use of MTBE, and eliminated a requirement that gasoline sold in regions with high levels of air pollution contain 2 percent oxygen by volume. [Vote 208, 6/5/03, Vote 137, 6/14/05] XXXX to Protect Producers of Renewable Fuels, Including Ethanol, from Liability. In 2002, XXXX voted against an attempt to drop the safe harbor provision exempting renewable fuels producers, including ethanol, from liability. The amendment XXXX voted against would strike a proposal prohibiting lawsuits against producers of renewable motor fuels based on the claim that those fuels were “defective in design or manufacture by virtue of the fact” that they contained renewable fuel. Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) said the safe harbor language made little sense in light of the bill's simultaneous call for a two-year EPA study on renewable fuels' health effects. She further charged the ethanol and petroleum industries with forging a deal earlier in 2002 over the gasoline sections of the energy bill without all interested parties. But Sens. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) and Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) defended the exemption, saying its language does not circumvent the Clean Air Act and the authority EPA has to determine if an aspect of it has been violated. [S 517, Vote 87, 4/25/02; Congressional Quarterly Daily Monitor, 4/24/02] XXXX Supported An Energy Bill That Included a Mandate To Triple Ethanol Production And $14 Billion In Energy Tax Incentives. In 2002, XXXX supported an energy bill that tripled the amount of ethanol to be used as an additive in gasoline and included a $14 billion in energy tax incentives for production and for conservation. The vote was on a cloture motion on the Daschle further modified substitute amendment to the National Laboratories Partnership Improvement Act of 2001. [S 517, Vote 7, 4/23/027; Associated Press, 4/23/02; Associated Press, 4/24/02]  XXXX Then Turned Around and Voted to Strip the Renewable Fuel Mandates in that Energy Bill. In 2002, right after he voted to support an ethanol-friendly energy bill, XXXX voted for an amendment that would strike the vehicle renewable fuel mandates. The measure failed by a vote of 69-30. [S 517, Vote 78, 4/23/02] 110