[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 45 (Tuesday, April 11, 2000)]
[House]
[Pages H2090-H2093]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and 
pass the bill (H.R. 2884) to extend energy conservation programs under 
the Energy Policy and Conservation Act through fiscal year 2003, as 
amended.
  The Clerk read as follows:

                               H.R. 2884

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. ENERGY POLICY AND CONSERVATION ACT AMENDMENTS.

       The Energy Policy and Conservation Act is amended--
       (1) by amending section 166 (42 U.S.C. 6246) to read as 
     follows:


                   ``authorization of appropriations

       ``Sec. 166. There are authorized to be appropriated for 
     fiscal years 2000 through 2003 such sums as may be necessary 
     to implement this part.'';
       (2) in section 181 (42 U.S.C. 6251) by striking ``March 31, 
     2000'' both places it appears and inserting in lieu thereof 
     ``September 30, 2003''; and
       (3) in section 281 (42 U.S.C. 6285) by striking ``March 31, 
     2000'' both places it appears and inserting in lieu thereof 
     ``September 30, 2003''.

     SEC. 2. PURCHASE OF OIL FROM MARGINAL WELLS.

       (a) Purchase of Oil From Marginal Wells.--Part B of Title I 
     of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6232 et 
     seq.) is amended by adding the following new section after 
     section 168:


                 ``purchase of oil from marginal wells

       ``Sec. 169. (a) In General.--From amounts authorized under 
     section 166, in any case in which the price of oil decreases 
     to an amount less than $15.00 per barrel (an amount equal to 
     the annual average well head price per barrel for all 
     domestic crude oil), adjusted for inflation, the Secretary 
     may purchase oil from a marginal well at $15.00 per barrel, 
     adjusted for inflation.
       ``(b) Definition of Marginal Well.--The term ``marginal 
     well'' means a well that--
       ``(1) has an average daily production of 15 barrels or 
     less;
       ``(2) has an average daily production of 25 barrels or less 
     with produced water accounting for 95 percent or more of 
     total production; or
       ``(3) produces heavy oil with an API gravity less than 20 
     degrees.''.
       (b) Conforming Amendment.--The table of contents for the 
     Energy Policy and Conservation Act is amended by inserting 
     after the item relating to section 168 the following:

``Sec. 169. Purchase of oil from marginal wells.''.

     SEC. 3. NORTHEAST HOME HEATING OIL RESERVE.

       (a) Amendment.--Title I of the Energy Policy and 
     Conservation Act is amended by--
       (1) redesignating part D as part E;
       (2) redesignating section 181 as section 191; and
       (3) inserting after part C the following new part D:

              ``Part D--Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve


                            ``establishment

       ``Sec. 181. (a) Notwithstanding any other provision of this 
     Act, the Secretary may establish, maintain, and operate in 
     the Northeast a Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve. A Reserve 
     established under this part is not a component of the 
     Strategic Petroleum Reserve established under part B of this 
     title. A Reserve established under this part shall contain no 
     more than 2 million barrels of petroleum distillate.
       ``(b) For the purposes of this part--
       ``(1) the term `Northeast' means the States of Maine, New 
     Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, 
     New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey; and
       ``(2) the term `petroleum distillate' includes heating oil 
     and diesel fuel.


                              ``authority

       ``Sec. 182. To the extent necessary or appropriate to carry 
     out this part, the Secretary may--
       ``(1) purchase, contract for, lease, or otherwise acquire, 
     in whole or in part, storage and related facilities, and 
     storage services;
       ``(2) use, lease, maintain, sell, or otherwise dispose of 
     storage and related facilities acquired under this part;
       ``(3) acquire by purchase, exchange (including exchange of 
     petroleum product from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve or 
     received as royalty from Federal lands), lease, or otherwise, 
     petroleum distillate for storage in the Northeast Home 
     Heating Oil Reserve;
       ``(4) store petroleum distillate in facilities not owned by 
     the United States;
       ``(5) sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of petroleum 
     distillate from the Reserve established under this part; and
       ``(6) notwithstanding paragraph (5), on terms the Secretary 
     considers reasonable, sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of 
     petroleum distillate from the Reserve established under this 
     part in order to maintain the quality or quantity of the 
     petroleum distillate in the Reserve or to maintain the 
     operational capability of the Reserve.


                     ``conditions for release; plan

       ``Sec. 183. (a) The Secretary may release petroleum 
     distillate from the Reserve under section 182(5) only in the 
     event of--
       ``(1) a severe energy supply disruption;
       ``(2) a severe price increase; or
       ``(3) another emergency affecting the Northeast,
     which the President determines to merit a release from the 
     Reserve.
       ``(b) Within 45 days of the date of enactment of this 
     section, the Secretary shall transmit to the President and, 
     if the President approves, to the Congress a plan 
     describing--
       ``(1) the acquisition of storage and related facilities or 
     storage services for the Reserve;
       ``(2) the acquisition of petroleum distillate for storage 
     in the Reserve;
       ``(3) the anticipated methods of disposition of petroleum 
     distillate from the Reserve; and
       ``(4) the estimated costs of establishment, maintenance, 
     and operation of the Reserve.
     The storage of petroleum distillate in a storage facility 
     that meets existing environmental requirements is not a 
     `major Federal action significantly affecting the quality of 
     the human environment' as that term is used in section 
     102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.


              ``northeast home heating oil reserve account

       ``Sec. 184. (a) Upon a decision of the Secretary of Energy 
     to establish a Reserve under this part, the Secretary of the 
     Treasury shall establish in the Treasury of the United States 
     an account know as the `Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve 
     Account' (referred to in this section as the `Account').
       ``(b) The Secretary of the Treasury shall deposit in the 
     Account any amounts appropriated to the Account and any 
     receipts from the sale, exchange, or other disposition of 
     petroleum distillate from the Reserve.
       ``(c) The Secretary of Energy may obligate amounts in the 
     Account to carry out activities under this part without the 
     need for further appropriation, and amounts available to the 
     Secretary of Energy for obligation under this section shall 
     remain available without fiscal year limitation.

[[Page H2091]]

                              ``exemptions

       ``Sec. 185. An action taken under this part--
       ``(1) is not subject to the rulemaking requirements of 
     section 523 of this Act, section 501 of the Department of 
     Energy Organization Act, or section 553 of title 5, United 
     States Code; and
       ``(2) is not subject to laws governing the Federal 
     procurement of goods and services, including the Federal 
     Property and Administrative Services Act of 1949 (including 
     the Competition in Contracting Act) and the Small Business 
     Act.''.
       (b) Authorization of Appropriations.--There are authorized 
     to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to carry out 
     part D of title I of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Texas (Mr. Barton) and the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton).


                             General Leave

  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all 
Members may have 5 legislative days within which to revise and extend 
their remarks and to insert extraneous material on the bill, H.R. 2884.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Texas?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 5 minutes.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the minority staff and the minority 
leadership on the Subcommittee on Energy and Power as well as the full 
Committee on Commerce, and the majority staff on the same committees 
for working to put this bipartisan compromise together.
  I want to also thank the chairman of the full committee, the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Bliley), who was unavoidably detained and 
could not be on the floor this evening for his support of this very 
necessary measure.
  Mr. Speaker, what we are doing right now is we are authorizing the 
Energy Policy and Conservation Act through the year 2003. This is an 
act that was first put on the books in 1992. It includes necessary 
legislative language for the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is 
vital to our Nation's security. I think it is a very worthwhile piece 
of legislation. It is a clean reauthorization of the existing act, with 
two exceptions, and I am going to very briefly touch on those.
  Under current law, oil that is put into the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve has to be purchased from foreign oil sources. It cannot be 
purchased from domestic sources. The bill, as reported from the 
committee, included a provision that would allow the Secretary of 
Energy the discretion, would not mandate but would allow the Secretary 
of Energy the discretion, if world oil prices fell below $15 a barrel, 
to purchase oil from stripper wells. Stripper wells are wells that 
produce less than $15 per barrel.
  So this provision would allow the Secretary of Energy the discretion 
to purchase stripper well oil from domestic sources and put them in the 
reserve. The oil in the reserve today currently has an average 
acquisition cost of $27 per barrel. So this provision would be just 
slightly more than half the current acquisition cost.
  What it would do, in strategic terms, is allow a domestic resource, 
these small wells that are barely producing much oil, to stay in 
production and not be shut in. Once these stripper wells are shut in, 
very few of them ever come back.
  If we had had this provision in the law 2 years ago, and if the 
Secretary had used the discretion to implement it, it is estimated that 
between a half a million and a million barrels of oil would still be 
being produced today in the United States that is not currently being 
produced. So we think this is a valuable addition to the SPR and is a 
worthwhile amendment to come out of committee.
  The other amendment that we are adding on the floor this evening that 
was not put in in committee is at the request and suggestion of the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), who is on the floor, the 
Secretary of Energy at the Department of Energy, and the Clinton-Gore 
administration and affected Republicans in the Northeast.
  It reauthorizes the refined product reserve and it also changes the 
trigger mechanism for the refined product reserve on a regional basis 
so that one could get a declaration on a regional basis, like we had 
the heating oil emergency in the Northeast several months ago. If the 
Markey language had been law at that time, and if we had had refined 
products in a reserve, a regional declaration could have been declared 
by the President and that fuel oil could have been drawn down for 
homeowners in the Northeast.
  So this is, at the top end, I think, a good amendment in a good piece 
of legislation. It was not put in at full committee but it has been 
added at the Committee on Rules and is in the bill that is before us.
  So, to summarize, Mr. Speaker, H.R. 2884, as amended, is an excellent 
piece of legislation. It has two additions, one addition when prices 
are low and, in addition, it would help us when prices are high. So I 
would hope the House would pass this by unanimous consent.
  Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this legislation, despite my 
reservations about deficiencies in the measure that could well have 
been addressed had the bill been brought to the floor in a more timely 
manner. It is unfortunate that it was not until well after gasoline 
prices rose sharply that the House leadership awoke to the need to 
reauthorize EPCA, a statute which expired on March 31.
  EPCA is the foundation of our emergency energy preparedness. It 
permits the United States to participate in activities of the 
International Energy Agency. It also authorizes the President to 
maintain and, if necessary, draw down oil from the 570 million barrels 
in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. That reserve is not a tool to be 
deployed lightly.
  EPCA stipulates that a drawdown occur only if the President finds 
that a severe energy supply interruption exists. Moreover, the storage 
caverns can only be filled and drained a few times before their 
structural integrity is affected. But the very existence of the reserve 
provides an insurance policy against a major oil crisis and reminds 
foreign oil producers that this Nation is not at their mercy.
  As part of his effort earlier this year to bring gasoline prices 
down, the President asked Congress to ensure that this vital authority 
did not expire. That call has gone unheeded until this late moment.
  I supported H.R. 2284 when it was reported by the Committee on 
Commerce last October. I signed dissenting views, along with a majority 
of my committee Democrats, protesting the bill's failure to renew 
important energy efficiency provisions of the original act. Had this 
legislation been brought to the floor in a more timely manner, under a 
rule that permitted amendments, this omission could have been 
rectified.
  Let me say that I am very pleased that an accommodation has been 
reached on an amendment that establishes a heating oil reserve and 
helps to increase production of U.S. oil reserves as proposed by our 
friend and colleague, the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey). 
Since the bill was reported from committee more than 5 months ago, it 
is very difficult for me to understand why we are reduced to what 
amounts to a last-minute scramble that prevents its consideration under 
more normal procedures.
  Nonetheless, recent events underscore the importance of having EPCA 
on the books to ensure that the President has the necessary tools at 
his disposal to respond to an energy emergency. It appears this 
legislation is the sole legislative vehicle that the majority is 
willing to make available to avert an extended lapse of this essential 
statute. So, under the circumstances, we have little alternative other 
than to support the legislation.
  In conclusion, while I recognize the bill's substantive shortcomings, 
and deplore the unnecessary delay in addressing this matter, I plan to 
vote for the legislation and I encourage my colleagues to do the same.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Massachusetts 
(Mr. Markey).
  Mr. MARKEY. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time, and I want to compliment the gentleman from Texas for 
constructing kind of a classic Austin-Boston piece of legislation here.

[[Page H2092]]

  The gentleman from Texas represents a concern that the stripper well 
industry has, that they have not had the proper set of incentives in 
order to continue to keep their wells open. What the legislation says 
is that when the price of stripper well oil goes below $15 a barrel, 
that there would be an authorization for that oil to be purchased in 
order, one, to fill up the Strategic Petroleum Resereve but, secondly, 
in order to keep the price of stripper well oil high enough so that 
there is an incentive for that industry to continue to make the proper 
investment in maintaining them as viable sources of energy for our 
country.
  As well, the legislation makes it possible for there to be 
constructed a regional home heating oil reserve in the northeastern 
part of the United States. That is very important to those of us that 
live within a region that does have, on an ongoing basis, the threat 
that we are going to be cut off from that home heating oil supply.
  Now, maybe over the next 20 years, as Sable Island, this rich 
resource of natural gas off of the Newfoundland coast comes on line, we 
will not need this kind of protection. But that is not really going to 
be possible for another 5, 10, 15 years before it fully penetrates all 
of the Northeast. And by the Northeast, I also mean eastern 
Pennsylvania, all of New Jersey, and the State of New York. Those are 
the parts of our country that are very much dependent upon imported 
home heating oil.
  Now, we have, without question, the need to give the President the 
flexibility that he needs to release the heating oil from the reserve 
in the event we have a repetition of the type of severe price spikes or 
severe weather situations that we saw last winter which drove home 
heating oil prices over the $2 a gallon level. This provision helps 
assure that as we are reauthorizing EPCA, that we are addressing both 
the needs of the producing States, who are worried about what happens 
when prices go too low, and the consuming States, who worry about what 
happens when prices get too high.
  So this is kind of our Goldilocks solution here. Not too hot. Not too 
cold. Just right. Try to get the right balance that makes it possible 
for us, to be honest, to pass legislation. We have to do this. This is 
the classic deal we have been cutting since Sam Rayburn and John 
McCormick sat on this floor in the 1930s.
  It is a good bill. I want to thank again the gentleman from Texas for 
bringing it out. I want to compliment the gentleman from Maine and the 
gentleman from Rhode Island and the gentleman from Vermont for pushing 
on this legislation. And by that I mean respectively the gentleman from 
Maine (Mr. Baldacci), the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Weygand), 
and the estimable independent from the State of Vermont, their constant 
pressure. I see the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano) up there 
as well. This is legislation that, without question, is a perfect 
compromise.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 1 minute.
  Mr. Speaker, this bill is on the suspension calendar because we think 
that it has broad bipartisan support and should be an automatic ``yes'' 
for all the Members.
  We have worked very hard to reach a compromise both at the policy 
level and at the political level, and I hope that if and when we have a 
rollcall vote on this that people would all vote ``yes'' for it.
  Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 2\1/2\ minutes to the gentlewoman 
from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me this 
time, and I want to commend the chairman, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. 
Barton), and the ranking member, the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. 
Boucher), for bringing this important measure to this body.
  I stand in strong support of it and urge my colleagues to think as 
this bill moves forward how America can, in fact, be energy 
independent.

                              {time}  1845

  We are two-thirds dependent on foreign sources of supply, and the 
Strategic Petroleum Reserve offers us a temporary cushion here at home.
  I think, as the bill moves forward in the other body and as 
compromises are reached, I would urge my colleagues to consider 
swapping a portion of the oil that is in the reserve for ethanol and 
biodiesel, or even as new fuel is purchased and there is currently a 
gap in the reserve of several million barrels, to consider looking at 
ethanol as one of the ways in which America can become more self-
sufficient in fuel production and usage.
  I would recommend a level of about 300 million gallons of ethanol and 
100 million of biodiesel. Both of these are at competitive prices now 
if one looks at the market. And even if all of that were purchased and 
stored on farm, we would still only be looking at 1 to 2 percent of the 
entire fuel reserve being comprised of these biobased fuels.
  In terms of what is happening in rural America today, this is 
absolutely a way forward for our country. And if one looks at the State 
of Ohio, we are one of the biggest ethanol users in the Nation. About 
40 percent of the additives in our fuels, as opposed to MTBE, is 
actually comprised of biofuels, ethanol being the leading one.
  So I would implore the chairman of the subcommittee and the ranking 
member, as these discussions proceed in the Senate, to please consider 
this. It would make economic sense. I think it makes defense sense. It 
certainly makes energy sense for our country in view of what is 
happening across our country with farmers facing the necessity of 
looking at new fuels. This is a wonderful new market.
  In addition to that, representing the coal belt of America, from 
Pennsylvania through the Virginias, through Illinois, and so forth, I 
would also recommend looking at cleaning up coal and using the methane 
that can be spun off of that as another additive. I would hope that as 
these discussions proceed that those in charge of the Strategic 
Petroleum Reserve would also be looking at energy self-sufficiency for 
the Nation as an imperative.
  I again commend the gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) for this 
measure and thank him for yielding me the time.
  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Maine (Mr. Baldacci).
  Mr. BALDACCI. Mr. Speaker, I would like to thank the gentleman from 
Virginia (Mr. Boucher) for yielding me the time and for his leadership 
in the committee.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the subcommittee chairman for his work 
in trying to craft this legislation and move it forward in an attempt 
to reach out to everybody to advance the national interest. We 
appreciate that.
  I would like to thank my good friend and colleague, the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), who was here when McCormick and 
Rayburn were here, as somebody else referred to in the hallway. He gave 
me that line.
  But I would also like to thank the leadership in the Northeast region 
with the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Weygand) and the gentleman 
from Vermont (Mr. Sanders) and the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. 
Capuano) and many other Members in the Northeast that have worked 
together bipartisanly so that we could work on this issue.
  There has been a gap in the authorization to be able to use the SPR 
and to be able to begin work on this reserve, but it is better late 
than never. This legislation is very good legislation. It is 
bipartisan. It recognizes that these events can happen on a regional 
basis.
  I guess to have been sitting in Boston at a summit that was held, in 
listening to the discussion go on, and to realize how dangerously low 
we were on inventory levels and to recognize that all jet fuel, diesel 
fuel, gasoline and petroleum products had to be reconfigured into home 
heating oil, putting additional pressures on our gasoline market and 
causing gasoline prices to spike, we also were able to see how a 
regional shortage and concern was then developed into a national one 
and one which we are still dealing with to this day.
  So I think that this legislation is a good insurance policy, it is a 
good beach head, it will protect us against those waves that come in 
again, and it will be able to help us to be part of a national policy 
that deals with a comprehensive energy policy that becomes less energy 
dependent and becomes more energy independent so that we

[[Page H2093]]

are not relying on foreign sources and that we will have national 
security and not have to worry about when the next shipment of oil or 
gas or coal or ethanol or whatever it may happen to be.
  So by being able to develop these policies and working with the 
administration and the Secretary of Energy and the work that has gone 
on to try to help stabilize the market, which I believe they have gone 
to great measures to do, along with this legislation, we are going to 
begin to make sure that what we have gone through in the past does not 
happen again.
  I tell people that the original one was a bad movie and the sequels 
have not been any better since and, hopefully, we never have to witness 
this particular situation again in the future.
  I would like to thank the chairman and the people who were involved 
and look forward to advancing this legislation.
  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Rhode Island (Mr. Weygand).
  Mr. WEYGAND. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentleman from Virginia 
(Mr. Boucher) for yielding me the time, as well as our colleague, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), for allowing us to move forward on 
this bill.
  The Northeast has traditionally been a geographically hard location 
for much transportation of resources, like home heating oil and 
gasoline. We also have a very older style of architecture which often 
causes us to have very inefficient buildings and, unfortunately, that 
leak during the wintertime of heat and resources and energy. We also 
have a much colder environment in the Northeast than most parts of the 
country. All these factors lead to us as being big consumers of home 
heating oil.
  Unfortunately, also over the years we have reduced the amount of 
inventory that we have traditionally had the capability of keeping in 
the Northeast. In 1991 we had about 4 million barrels of home heating 
oil on reserve in the Northeast. Since the Gulf War, we have 
traditionally built it up, to last year we had about 17 million barrels 
on hand. But this year we dropped to almost an all-time low back down 
to about 4.5 million barrels.
  Inventory is an important part of making sure that the Northeast has 
an adequate supply to provide for home heating oil. This bill will go a 
long way to improving the inventory. I compliment the members from the 
majority side for bringing this bill forward that we have been working 
so hard on.
  We must recognize, though, that only 2 million barrels is hardly a 
drop in the bucket to what we really need. I would hope that as we move 
this bill through conference that they would look at increasing the 
home heating oil reserve to in the neighborhood of 3 or 4 million 
barrels versus the 2 million barrels that is proposed.
  We also must do other things, though. We have to look at alternative 
sources of energy such as natural gas, such as making sure we have 
solar power. We must also provide the kinds of tax incentives we need 
for conservation. That is for better winterization programs, for 
building materials and other things that will help enhance and reduce 
the amount of energy loss that we have in our buildings. All of these 
elements taken in composite will make us a more efficient user of 
energy, such as petroleum products.
  I hope that as we begin to move forward with this session and as we 
wrap up before this fall, we will truly have a number of tax incentives 
for winterization and conservation, alternative sources of energy, as 
well as improving our stocks of inventory, as we are under this bill.
  I thank both the majority and minority for bringing this bill 
forward. I also want to compliment my colleagues who have been working 
so hard on this, particularly the gentleman from Vermont (Mr. Sanders), 
the gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the gentleman from 
Massachusetts (Mr. Capuano), and of course, the gentleman from Maine 
(Mr. Baldacci).
  We have all been working hard because our constituents hurt very hard 
this winter. We saw prices in Rhode Island go from 99 cents a gallon to 
over $2.05 a gallon in a matter of weeks. This will help reverse that 
trend, and this will be better for the constituents of the Northeast. 
And I thank my colleagues for that.
  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3 minutes to the gentleman from 
Vermont (Mr. Sanders).
  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the 
time.
  Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from Texas (Chairman Barton), the 
gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Boucher) the ranking member, the gentleman 
from Massachusetts (Mr. Markey), the gentleman from Maine (Mr. 
Baldacci), the gentleman from Rhode Island (Mr. Weygand), and I also 
want to thank the President and Secretary Richardson for their support 
of the consent of a Northeast home heating oil reserve.
  Mr. Speaker, it is no secret that this winter the people in the 
Northeast were hit very, very hard by the large increase in home 
heating oil prices; and many of the folks in the State of Vermont in 
the Northeast were having a very, very difficult time paying a doubling 
of the price of home heating oil from just 1 year before. It was a 
serious crisis. It remains a crisis. And it is no secret that we were 
not prepared for it.
  On February 4, I introduced H.R. 3608, the Home Heating Oil Price 
Stability Act; and in this short period of time since then, we now have 
98 cosponsors, including 24 Republicans and 27 Representatives who are 
not from the Northeast. So this is a bipartisan piece of legislation. 
It is a national piece of legislation.
  The bottom line is that we were caught unprepared, and the bottom 
line is that we have got not to be caught unprepared again. A home 
heating oil reserve of at least 2 million barrels, and that is the 
legislation included within this bill, would make certain that when the 
weather becomes very cold, when home heating oil prices zoom up, we 
will have something to call upon to control the escalating price of 
home heating oil. And that is what the reserve does. So I think this is 
a significant step forward in controlling escalating home heating oil 
prices.
  I would hope, as previous speakers have indicated, that we could 
expand the concept. Two million barrels in the Northeast is a good 
start. The original legislation calls for another 4.7 million barrels 
in the Gulf Coast, which is part of what the Strategic Petroleum 
Reserve is.
  My understanding is that the President has the authority, in fact, to 
do that on his own; and I hope that he will.
  The bottom line is that this is a significant step forward in 
preventing another spike in home heating oil in the Northeast. It will 
save substantial sums of money for the people in the Northeast and, in 
fact, for people throughout this country.
  I very much thank the chairman and the ranking member and those who 
have made this legislation possible.
  Mr. BOUCHER. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself 30 seconds.
  Mr. Speaker, I use this time to commend my friend and colleague, the 
gentleman from Texas (Mr. Barton), the chairman of our energy 
subcommittee, for his excellent work on this measure. The procedural 
difficulties that I referenced earlier were not of his doing. I know 
that, given his way, we would have had a different process and one that 
I think would have been somewhat more thorough.
  I urge my colleagues to approve this measure. It will reauthorize the 
authority of the President to manage the SPR. That is fundamentally 
important. I would encourage all Members to support the legislation.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. LaHood). All time has expired.
  The question is on the motion offered by the gentleman from Texas 
(Mr. Barton) that the House suspend the rules and pass the bill, H.R. 
2884, as amended.
  The question was taken.
  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to clause 8 of rule XX and the 
Chair's prior announcement, further proceedings on this motion will be 
postponed.

                          ____________________