Nationwide Consumer and Fuel Retailer Choice Act of 2025

Floor Speech

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Mr. EVANS of Colorado. Mr. Speaker, today, I rise in opposition to the bill before us. Let me be clear: If this was just year-round E15, I would be a ``yes,'' but it is not just year-round E15. It makes significant changes to definitions under the Renewable Fuel Standard that impact 80 percent of small refineries.

My district is home to the last two oil refineries in Colorado. Both of them are small refineries. Under this bill, their definition would change. They would no longer be small refineries, which means they would no longer be able to obtain relief from the RFS compliance costs. My two refineries alone would face an impact of over $100 million a year.

To be clear, this is a disproportionate impact on small refineries and is something that the GAO has found in a 2022 study. After years of attacks and overregulation from ruling Democrats in Denver, we can't afford to lose essential energy infrastructure, like the two refineries in my district.

Beyond just energy security, this is a matter of affordability for Coloradans. In fact, the last time my two refineries had to temporarily shut down, gas prices spiked by $1.40 a gallon for my constituents in Colorado.

If my refineries have to eat a $100-plus million annual increase in their compliance costs and/or they potentially shut down, that $1.40 a gallon becomes permanent for my constituents in Colorado. That is something that they cannot afford in perpetuity.

While I would support a clean year-round E15 authorization, that is not what this does. It has other definitions in it. I urge my colleagues to join me in ``no.''

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