Strategic Petroleum Reserve

(a)

Petroleum acquisition for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

Section 301(e)(1) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 6240 note) is amended to read as follows:

(1)

In general

The Secretary shall, as expeditiously as practical, without incurring excessive cost or appreciably affecting the price of petroleum products to consumers, acquire petroleum in quantities sufficient to fill the available capacity of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, subject to the following limitations: (A)

Suspension of royalty-in-kind transfers to the strategic petroleum reserve

No later than September 30, 2008, the Secretary shall sell 13,000,000 barrels of petroleum received under the royalty-in-kind program. Beginning October 1, 2008, the Secretary shall suspend acquisition of petroleum for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve under the Royalty-In-Kind program, subject to resumption as provided in subparagraph (B). (B)

Resumption of petroleum acquisition for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve

The Secretary may resume acquisition of petroleum for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 30 days after notification to Congress that— (i)(I)the Secretary projects that the United States will fall short of its commitments under the International Energy Program within a period of 24 months from the date of the projection; or (II)the weighted average price of petroleum for the most recent 90 day period is at least 25 percent less than the 24-month historical average price; and (ii)that resumption of Strategic Petroleum Reserve fill will not have an appreciable effect on the price of petroleum products to consumers within the following 12-month period after the resumption of acquisition. (C)

Future suspension of Strategic Petroleum Reserve petroleum acquisition

During any period in which the Secretary is acquiring petroleum for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the Secretary shall suspend acquisition activities if— (i)the monthly weighted average price of petroleum increases by more than 20 percent over any period of 6 months or less; or (ii)the Secretary determines that continued Strategic Petroleum Reserve fill may have an appreciable impact on prices of petroleum products in future months.

(b)

Revised procedures

No later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Secretary shall publish revised procedures under section 301(e)(2) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 consistent with the provisions contained in the amendment made by subsection (a).

Energy Independence and Security Fund

(a)

Establishment

There is hereby established in the Treasury of the United States the Energy Independence and Security Fund (hereinafter in this section referred to as the Fund ). (b)

Administration

The Secretary of Energy shall be responsible for administering the Fund for the purpose of carrying out this section. (c)

Deposits

All proceeds from sales of petroleum from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, as authorized in section 301(e)(1) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (as amended by section 2 of this Act), after deduction of the direct administrative costs associated with such sales, shall be deposited in the Fund. (d)

Distribution of funds

The Secretary shall make available for obligation, without further appropriation and without fiscal year limitation, the following amounts from the Fund: (1)

Advanced research projects agency—energy

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $100,000,000 to the Energy Transformation Acceleration Fund, as authorized in section 5012(m) of the America COMPETES Act (42 U.S.C. 16538(m)), to remain available until expended. Of the funds transferred, the Secretary shall further allocate the amounts made available for obligation as follows: (A)$50,000,000 shall be available for university-based research projects. (B)$10,000,000 shall be available for program direction expenses. (2)

Rural wind energy

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $15,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program to support the development of infrastructure necessary for deployment of wind energy systems in rural areas, as authorized in section 931(f)(1) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16231(f)(1)). (3)

Solar energy research and development

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $30,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of solar energy technologies, as authorized by section 931(a)(2)(A) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16231(a)(2)(A)). (4)

Low income weatherization

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $100,000,000 to the account Weatherization Assistance Program, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program to weatherize low income housing, as authorized by section 411 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140). (5)

Marine and hydrokinetic renewable electric energy

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $30,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of ocean and wave energy, including hydrokinetic renewable energy, as authorized by section 931 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16231) and section 636 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140). (6)

Industrial energy efficiency research and development

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $110,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of new technologies to improve the energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from industrial processes, as authorized in section 911(a)(2)(C) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16191(a)(2)(C)) and in section 452 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140). (7)

Building energy efficiency research and development

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $70,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of new technologies to improve the energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from buildings, as authorized in section 422 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140). (8)

Energy storage for transportation and electric power applications

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $30,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program to accelerate the research, development, demonstration, and deployment of new materials for improving the energy efficiency of transportation, electric power and other technologies, as authorized by section 641 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140). (9)

Geothermal energy development

(A)For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $30,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program for geothermal research and development activities to be managed by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, as authorized by section 931(a)(2)(C) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16231(a)(2)(C)); and (B)For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $30,000,000 to the account Fossil Energy Research and Development, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program of advanced geothermal drilling and resource characterization to be managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory. (10)

Carbon capture and storage

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $385,000,000 to the account Fossil Energy Research and Development, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program of demonstration projects of carbon capture and storage, as authorized by sections 702 and 703 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140). Notwithstanding any other provision of law, one of the demonstration projects shall be a component of the FutureGen project. (11)

Nonconventional domestic natural gas and petroleum production and environmental research

(A)For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $50,000,000 to the Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Research Fund, to remain available until expended, as authorized by section 999H(e) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16378(e)). (B)For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $15,000,000 to the account Fossil Energy Research and Development, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for a program of environmental research in support of small producers of domestic petroleum and natural gas, for regulatory analysis and for support for the stripper well consortium. (12)

Hydrogen research and development

For fiscal year 2008, the Secretary shall transfer $5,000,000 to the account Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, to remain available until expended, for necessary expenses for the Department’s H-Prize Program, as authorized by section 654 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (Public Law 110–140). (e)

Amendments

(1)Section 999F of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 16376) is amended by striking 2014 and inserting 2017. (2)Section 999B(e) of that Act (42 U.S.C.16372(e)) is amended by striking paragraph (3) and inserting the following:

(3)

Publication

The Secretary shall publish in the Federal Register the annual plan, along with any written comments received under paragraph (2)(A) and (B).

(3)Section 999H(b) of that Act (42 U.S.C.16378(b)) is amended by inserting , and shall be exempt from subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, United States Code after available until expended. (f)

Transfer procedures

The Secretary shall make an initial transfer from the Fund no later than 30 days after the initial deposit of monies into the Fund. The Secretary shall make additional transfers no later than 30 days after subsequent deposits, until the full amounts authorized for fiscal 2008 have been transferred. To the extent that any transfer in fiscal 2008 is less than the authorized total, the transfers shall be made on a pro rata basis. (g)

Management and oversight

(1)

Additionality of fiscal year 2008 transfers

All amounts transferred under subsection (d)(1) shall be in addition to, and shall not be substituted for, any funds appropriated for the same or similar purposes in the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2008. (2)

Program plans and performance measures

The Secretary shall prepare and publish in the Federal Register a plan for the proposed use of all funds authorized in subsection (d). The plan also shall identify how the use of these funds will be additive to, and not displace annual appropriations. The plans also shall identify performance measures to assess the additional benefits that may be realized from the application of the additional funding provided under this section. The initial plan shall be published in the Federal Register within 90 days from enactment of this section, and shall be updated annually and submitted to Congress together with the President’s budget. (3)

Congressional oversight and review

Nothing in this section shall limit or restrict the review and oversight of program plans by the appropriate committees of Congress. Nothing in this section shall limit or restrict the authority of Congress to set alternative spending limitations in annual appropriations Acts. (4)

Apportionment

All transactions of the Fund shall be exempt from apportionment under the provisions of subchapter II of chapter 15 of title 31, United States Code. (5)

Use of other transactions authority

(A)Any solicitation for research, development, or demonstration project proposals to be funded under this section shall provide for and encourage the use of Other Transactions Authority, including Technology Investment Agreements as authorized by section 646(g) of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7256) and Part 603 of the Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation. (B)Any solicitation for a commercial demonstration project under this section shall require the use of Other Transactions Authority, including Technology Investment Agreements, as authorized by section 646(g) of the Department of Energy Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7256) and Part 603 of the Department of Energy Acquisition Regulation.