Home > 108th Congressional Bills > H.R. 4517 (rfs) To provide incentives to increase refinery capacity in the United States. [Referred in Senate] ...H.R. 4517 (rfs) To provide incentives to increase refinery capacity in the United States. [Referred in Senate] ...
108th CONGRESS
2d Session
H. R. 4517
To provide incentives to increase refinery capacity in the United
States.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
June 4, 2004
Mr. Barton of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred
to the Committee on Energy and Commerce
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To provide incentives to increase refinery capacity in the United
States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``United States Refinery
Revitalization Act of 2004''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
The Congress finds the following:
(1) It serves the national interest to increase refinery
capacity for gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, and jet fuel
wherever located within the United States, to bring more supply
to the markets for use by the American people. Forty-eight
percent of the crude oil in the United States is used for the
production of gasoline. Production and use of refined petroleum
products has a significant impact on interstate commerce.
(2) United States demand for refined petroleum products,
such as gasoline and heating oil, currently exceeds our
domestic capacity to produce them. By 2025, United States
gasoline consumption is projected to rise from 8,900,000
barrels per day to 13,300,000 barrels per day. Diesel fuel and
home heating oil are becoming larger components of an
increasing demand for refined petroleum supply. With the
increase in air travel, jet fuel consumption is projected to be
760,000 barrels per day higher in 2025 than today.
(3) The refinery industry is operating at nearly 100
percent of capacity during the peak gasoline consumption season
and is producing record levels of needed products at other
times. The excess demand has recently been met by increased
imports. The United States currently is importing 7 percent of
its refined petroleum products but few foreign refiners can
produce the clean fuels required in the United States.
(4) Refiners are subject to significant environmental and
other regulations and face several new Clean Air Act
requirements over the next decade. Today 153 refineries operate
in the United States, down from 324 in 1981. Almost 25 percent
of our Nation's refining capacity is controlled by foreign
ownership. Easily restored capacity at idled refineries
amounted to 539,000 barrels a day in 2002, or 3.3 percent of
the total operating capacity. No new refineries have been built
in the United States since 1976. Most refineries are located on
century-old sites. New Clean Air Act requirements will benefit
the environment but will also require substantial capital
investment and additional government permits.
(5) Refiners have met growing demand by increasing the use
of existing equipment and increasing the efficiency and
capacity of existing plants. But refining capacity has begun to
lag behind peak summer demand.
(6) Heavy industry and manufacturing jobs have closed or
relocated due to barriers to investment, burdensome regulation,
and high costs of operation, among other reasons.
(7) More regulatory certainty for refinery owners is needed
to stimulate investment in increased refinery capacity.
(8) Required procedures for Federal, State, and local
regulatory approvals need to be streamlined to ensure that
increased refinery capacity can be developed and operated in a
safe, timely, and cost-effective manner.
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF REFINERY REVITALIZATION ZONES.
The Secretary of Energy shall designate as a Refinery
Revitalization Zone any area--
(1) that--
(A) has experienced mass layoffs at manufacturing
facilities, as determined by the Secretary of Labor; or
(B) contains an idle refinery; and
(2) that has an unemployment rate of at least 20 percent
above the national average, as set forth by the Department of
Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, at the time of designation
as a Refinery Revitalization Zone.
SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH ALL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATIONS REQUIRED.
The best available control technology, as appropriate, shall be
employed on all refineries located within a Refinery Revitalization
Zone to comply with all applicable Federal, State, and local
environmental regulations. Nothing in this Act shall be construed to
waive or diminish in any manner the applicability to any refinery
facility located within a Refinery Revitalization Zone existing or
future environmental regulations.
SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND EXPEDITIOUS REVIEW OF PERMITTING PROCESS.
(a) Department of Energy Lead Agency.--Upon request of an applicant
for a Federal authorization related to the siting and operation of a
refinery facility within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, the Department
of Energy shall be the lead agency for coordinating all applicable
Federal authorizations and related environmental reviews of the
facility. To the maximum extent practicable under applicable Federal
law, the Secretary of Energy shall coordinate this Federal
authorization and review process with any Indian Tribes and State and
local agencies responsible for conducting any separate permitting and
environmental reviews of the facility, to ensure timely and efficient
review and approval of any permit decisions.
(b) Authority to Set Deadlines.--As lead agency, the Department of
Energy, in consultation with agencies responsible for Federal
authorizations and, as appropriate, with Indian Tribes and State or
local agencies willing to coordinate their own separate permitting and
environmental reviews with the Federal authorization and environmental
reviews, shall establish prompt and binding intermediate and ultimate
deadlines for the review of, and Federal authorization decisions
relating to, the refinery facility. The Secretary of Energy shall
ensure that once an application has been submitted with such data as
the Secretary considers necessary, all permit decisions and related
environmental reviews under all applicable Federal laws shall be
completed within 6 months or, where circumstances require otherwise, as
soon thereafter as is practicable. The Secretary of Energy also shall
provide an expeditious preapplication mechanism for prospective
applicants to confer with the agencies involved to have each such
agency determine and communicate to the prospective applicant within 60
days after the prospective applicant submits a request for the
information concerning--
(1) the likelihood of approval for a potential facility;
and
(2) key issues of concern to the agencies and public.
(c) Consolidated Environmental Review and Record of Decision.--As
lead agency, the Department of Energy, in consultation with the
affected agencies, shall prepare a single environmental review
document, which shall be used as the basis for all decisions on the
proposed project under Federal law. The document may be an
environmental assessment or environmental impact statement under the
National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 if warranted, or such other
form of analysis as may be warranted, in the discretion of the
Secretary. Such document shall include consideration by the relevant
agencies of any applicable criteria or other matters as required under
applicable laws.
(d) Appeals.--In the event any agency has denied a Federal
authorization required for a refinery facility within a Refinery
Revitalization Zone, or has failed to act by the deadline established
by the Secretary pursuant to this section for deciding whether to issue
the authorization, the applicant or any State in which the facility
would be located may file an appeal with the Secretary. Based on the
overall record and in consultation with the affected agency, the
Secretary may then either issue the necessary authorization with
appropriate conditions, or deny the application. The Secretary shall
issue a decision within 60 days after the filing of the appeal. In
making a decision under this subsection, the Secretary shall comply
with applicable requirements of Federal law, including any requirements
of the Clean Air Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Safe
Drinking Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, the Solid Waste Disposal Act,
the Toxic Substances Control Act, the National Historic Preservation
Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969. Any judicial
appeal of the Secretary's decision shall be to the United States Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia.
(e) Conforming Regulations and Memoranda of Understanding.--Not
later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the
Secretary of Energy shall issue any regulations necessary to implement
this section. Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of
this Act, the Secretary and the heads of all Federal agencies with
authority to issue Federal authorizations shall enter into Memoranda of
Understanding to ensure the timely and coordinated review and
permitting of refinery facilities within a Refinery Revitalization
Zone. The head of each Federal agency with authority to issue a Federal
authorization shall designate a senior official responsible for, and
dedicate sufficient other staff and resources to ensure, full
implementation of the Department of Energy regulations and any
Memoranda under this subsection. Interested Indian Tribes and State and
local agencies may enter such Memoranda of Understanding.
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.
For purposes of this Act--
(1) the term ``Federal authorization'' means any
authorization required under Federal law (including the Clean
Air Act, the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, the Safe
Drinking Water Act, the Comprehensive Environmental Response,
Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, the Solid Waste
Disposal Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the National
Historic Preservation Act, and the National Environmental
Policy Act of 1969) in order to site, construct, upgrade, or
operate a refinery facility within a Refinery Revitalization
Zone, including such permits, special use authorizations,
certifications, opinions, or other approvals as may be
required, whether issued by a Federal, State or local agency;
(2) the term ``idle refinery'' means any intact refinery
facility that has not been in operation after June 1, 2004; and
(3) the term ``refinery facility'' means any facility
designed and operated to refine raw crude oil into gasoline,
heating oil, diesel fuel, or jet fuel by any chemical or
physical process, including distillation, fluid catalytic
cracking, hydrocracking, coking, alkylation, etherification,
polymerization, catalytic reforming, isomerization,
hydrotreating, blending, and any combination thereof.
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