Christopher Grundler, director of EPA’s Office of Transportation and Air Quality, was seeking a little clarification June 5 when Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) insisted that implementing the renewable fuel standard will cause an impending economic “train wreck.”

 “I’m not aware of the definition of train wreck by Congress,” Grundler said.

No matter how repeatedly Gosar, vice chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform’s Subcommittee on Energy, Policy, Healthcare, and Entitlements, pressed the point, Grundler refused to concede that the renewable fuel standard will necessarily lead to financial ruin.

The subcommittee called the hearing to consider EPA’s administration of the renewable fuel standard, particularly whether the agency weighed the potential economic harm of requiring petroleum refiners and importers to blend renewable fuels into the nation’s fuel supply. Petroleum and poultry producers told the subcommittee that the corn-based ethanol mandate, in particular, has driven up prices for food and fuel.

House Republicans also pushed EPA to identify the criteria it would use to determine whether implementing the renewable fuel standard would harm the economy. Section 211 of the Clean Air Act grants EPA the authority to waive the renewable fuel standard requirements if implementing them “would severely harm the economy or environment of a state, a region, or the United States.”

Several states had requested EPA waive the renewable fuel standard last year after drought impacted the corn crop. EPA denied that request after its models showed waiving the ethanol blending requirement would have little impact on corn prices.

Grundler said EPA will seriously consider the economic impact of the 2013 renewable fuel standard volume requirements as it readies the long overdue final rule on the standard. However, granting waiver requests is a “judgment call” by the EPA administrator and is made on a case-by-case basis, he said.

By law, EPA should have finalized the rule Nov. 30, 2012, but it did not propose the 2013 requirements until February. The proposed rule calls for 16.55 billion gallons of renewable fuel this year. Grundler told the subcommittee that EPA anticipates finalizing the rule this summer and possibly proposing the 2014 standard at the same time.

But “summer,” like “train wreck,” is a term that needed clarification. When Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) pressed Grundler to be more specific, the EPA official noted that summer technically runs through Sept. 21.