WASHINGTON – Congress took a look Tuesday at a proposal on renewable fuels that moves toward the kind of policy Colorado Governor-elect Jared Polis advocates for his administration.

The House Energy and Commerce subcommittee on environment held a hearing on a bill that seeks to create an incentive for motorists to use more biofuels.

Colorado U.S. Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Denver, is a member of the subcommittee.

The subcommittee called the hearing to get comments on the bill, called the 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act, from trade associations and other industry representatives.

One of them was Geoff Cooper, president of the trade group Renewable Fuels Association. He liked the bill’s goal of promoting high-octane fuels that use ethanol, but said the congressional authors offer too few incentives to automakers and motorists.

Ethanol is a form of alcohol most commonly made from corn. It can be found in about 98 percent of the nation’s motor fuels.

“While a good conversation starter, this discussion draft does not provide the long-term certainty and growth path that America’s renewable fuel producers, farmers, automakers and consumers need,” Cooper said.

The proposed legislation is supposed to be a better version of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) program that Congress created under the Energy Policy Act of 2005. The RFS program is a national policy that requires a certain volume of renewable fuel to replace or reduce petroleum-based transportation fuel, heating oil or jet fuel.

Acceptable fuels under the RFS program include biomass diesel, cellulosic or other biofuels, and some renewable fuels that do not need to be blended with gasoline.

Congressional sponsors of the 21st Century Transportation Fuels Act say their proposal would increase the amount of biofuel Americans use in their cars.

The bill would set a national octane standard for gasoline that could be achieved by adding enough ethanol to help the fuel achieve a higher-octane rating than current standards. Octane is a highly flammable hydrocarbon used as a component of gasoline.

Auto manufacturers could then make high compression-ratio engines designed to run on fuels meeting the high-octane standard, thereby improving fuel economy and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The bill’s sponsors also say the new national standard would create new market opportunities for biofuel producers.

However, the draft legislation also tries to preserve consumer choice on which fuel they can purchase as a means of holding down gasoline and vehicle costs.

Some industry leaders who testified before Congress Tuesday were unconvinced the draft version of the bill would succeed in winning wider use of biofuels.

“Future fuel policy should augment the RFS program, not simply replace it,” Cooper said in his testimony.

Republicans who spoke during the hearing Tuesday said they want to protect consumers as much as the environment.

“I am most concerned about what makes sense for the interests of consumers, especially as it relates to access to, pricing for, and the availability and quality of the engines and fuels that consumers demand or that federal legislation requires,” said Rep. Greg Walden, R-Oregon.

Whether the bill succeeds or fails in Congress, it is aimed at the same objective that Polis, a Democrat, is promoting as he plans his upcoming governorship.

He wants 100 percent of Colorado’s energy to come from renewable sources by 2040. Polis said renewable fuels would create thousands of jobs and save Colorado residents money on energy.

Chet Thompson, president of the American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, only cautiously supported parts of the draft legislation in his testimony to Congress.

He said the proposed new octane standard would result in a 3- to 4-percent improvement in engine efficiency, which would be the equivalent of replacing more than 700,000 conventional vehicles with extremely low emission electric vehicles.

However, he said consumers would pay for the greater efficiency with higher costs.

“New or additional requirements will add cost and uncertainty and undermine the intent of the policy proposal,” Thompson said.

Some of the strongest support for the draft legislation came from Steve Zimmer, executive director of the U.S. Council for Automotive Research, who said in his testimony, “Setting a national minimum octane standard is a necessary step towards the continuing development of the next generation of high efficiency vehicles.”