[Congressional Bills 108th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 4517 Introduced in House (IH)]






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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