[Congressional Record Volume 152, Number 10 (Wednesday, February 1, 2006)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E51]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         COMMENTS ON SECTION 1403 OF ENERGY POLICY ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. JOE BARTON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 1, 2006

  Mr. BARTON of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to address the Energy 
Policy Act of 2005 that was signed by the President in August. This Act 
is the most comprehensive energy legislation in 30 years, and I believe 
it will lower energy prices for consumers, spur our economy, create 
hundreds of thousands of jobs, and take unprecedented steps to promote 
greater energy conservation and efficiency. I want to highlight one 
provision that I included in the House passed version of this 
legislation and which was retained in the final conference report. This 
provision promotes energy efficiency of electric transformers and 
improved public safety, but also promotes strong environmental 
stewardship. This provision, [section 1403,] governs the use of non 
petroleum oil in electric transformers as electrical insulation.
  The intent of section 1403 was to provide clarity for the new Oil 
Spill Prevention, Containment, and Countermeasures (SPCC) regulations. 
As some of my colleagues know, electric transformers, whether the small 
buckets on telephone poles or those pad mounted on the ground, include 
some quantities of oil used as an electrical insulation and thermal 
dissipation medium.
  Under SPCC, small and rural utilities and institutions that have 
their own electric transformers--including hospitals, schools, and 
military bases--will be required to build secondary containment diking 
around their electric transformers in case there is a spill of the oil 
used in transformers as thermal insulation. It should be noted that by 
the government's own estimates, facilities with less than 10,000 
gallons of storage capacity account for less than 2 percent of the 
total volume of oil spilled in the United States. Furthermore, the 
amount of volume contained in electric transformers is well below this 
figure.
  All those facts aside, section 1403 was included in the Energy Policy 
Act of 2005 as a means to provide an alternative to the increased costs 
of Federal regulations on rural communities and institutions that have 
electric transformers, providing regulatory relief for bio-based oils 
that have proven environmental benefits. Specifically, local 
communities and institutions that have electric transformers can avoid 
the costs of constructing secondary diking containment around their 
transformers if they use bio-based, non petroleum oils as insulation. 
In addition, many older electric transformers still contain 
Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) in their electrical insulation. By 
promoting these alternatives to petroleum-based oil used as thermal 
insulation in electric transformers, we provide a smart and 
environmentally friendly option to encourage the replacement of PCBs. 
It should be noted that this provision was retained in the final 
legislation without opposition or controversy.
  Additionally, in 1995, Congress passed the Edible Oil Regulatory 
Reform Act. This statue set forth specific guidelines for implementing 
regulations on oil spills. The Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act states 
``. . . in issuing or enforcing any regulation or establishing any 
interpretation or guideline relating to the transportation, storage, 
discharge, release, emission, or disposal of a fat, oil, or grease 
under any Federal law, the head of that Federal agency shall 
differentiate between and establish separate classes . . . and consider 
differences in the physical, chemical, biological, and other 
properties, and in the environment.'' Nearly a decade later, EPA 
continues to maintain the position that ``oil is oil.'' EPA has either 
been unwilling or unable to differentiate between the different classes 
of oils. I raise this issue because I want to make clear how the author 
of section 1403 intends it to be interpreted.

  Section 1403, Regulation of Certain Oil Used in Transformers, reads 
as follows: ``Notwithstanding any other provision of law, or rule 
promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency, vegetable oil made 
from soybeans and used in electric transformers as thermal insulation 
shall not be regulated as an oil identified under section 2(a)(1)(B) of 
the Edible Oil Regulatory Reform Act (33 U.S.C. 2720(a)(1)(B)).''
  EPA's broad generalization that ``oil is oil'' disregards renewable 
oils that, I believe, have an improved effect on the environment in 
case of a spill. EPA's broad policy impedes the replacement of fluids 
known to be harmful to the environment with fluids that have proven, 
tested benefits for the environment.

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