[Congressional Bills 106th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 2047 Introduced in Senate (IS)]







106th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                S. 2047

To direct the Secretary of Energy to create a Heating Oil Reserve to be 
   available for use when fuel oil prices in the United States rise 
    sharply because of anticompetitive activity, during a fuel oil 
         shortage, or during periods of extreme winter weather.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                            February 9, 2000

  Mr. Dodd (for himself, Mr. Lieberman, Ms. Snowe, Mr. Jeffords, Mr. 
  Lautenberg, Mr. Reed, and Mr. Leahy) introduced the following bill; 
   which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and 
                           Natural Resources

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
To direct the Secretary of Energy to create a Heating Oil Reserve to be 
   available for use when fuel oil prices in the United States rise 
    sharply because of anticompetitive activity, during a fuel oil 
         shortage, or during periods of extreme winter weather.

    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 ``Home Heating Oil Price Stability 
Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    Congress finds that--
            (1) a sharp, sustained increase in the price of fuel oil 
        would negatively affect the overall economic well-being of the 
        United States, and such increases have occurred in the winters 
        of 1983-84, 1988-89, 1996-97, and 1999-2000;
            (2) the United States currently imports roughly 55 percent 
        of its oil;
            (3) heating oil price increases disproportionately harm the 
        poor and the elderly;
            (4) the global oil market is often greatly influenced by 
        nonmarket-based supply manipulations, including price fixing 
        and production quotas; and
            (5) according to the June 1998 Department of Energy 
        ``Report to Congress on the Feasibility of Establishing a 
        Heating Oil Component to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve''--
                    (A) the use of a Government-owned distillate 
                reserve in the Northeast would provide benefits to 
                consumers in the Northeast and to the Nation;
                    (B) the Government would make a profit of 
                $46,000,000 from drawing down and selling the 
                distillate;
                    (C) consumer savings, including reductions in jet 
                fuel, would total $425,000,000;
                    (D) there are a number of commercial petroleum 
                storage facilities with available capacity for leasing 
                in the New York/New Jersey area; and
                    (E) it would be cost-effective to keep a Government 
                stockpile of approximately 2,000,000 barrels in leased 
                storage in the Northeast, filled by trading some crude 
                oil from the Government's strategic reserve of oil for 
                the refined product.

SEC. 3. AUTHORIZATION OF HEATING OIL RESERVE.

    (a) Creation of Reserve.--The Secretary of Energy shall immediately 
create a heating oil reserve consisting of--
            (1) 2,000,000 barrels of heating oil in leased storage 
        facilities in the New York Harbor area; and
            (2) 4,700,000 barrels of heating oil in 1 of the 4 
        Strategic Petroleum Reserve caverns on the coast of the Gulf of 
        Mexico.
    (b) Exchange for Crude Oil.--The Secretary of Energy may acquire 
heating oil for the reserve by trading crude oil from the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve for heating oil.

SEC. 4. DRAWDOWN OF HEATING OIL RESERVE.

    The President may immediately draw down the Heating Oil Reserve--
            (1) when fuel oil prices in the United States rise sharply 
        because of anticompetitive activity;
            (2) during a fuel oil shortage; or
            (3) during a period of extreme winter weather.

SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There is authorized to be appropriated to the Secretary of Energy 
to carry out this Act $125,000,000 for the period of fiscal years 2000 
through 2019.
                                 <all>