[House Report 106-701]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]



106th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     106-701

======================================================================



 
  PROVIDING FOR THE CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 4733, THE ENERGY AND WATER 
                 DEVELOPMENT APPROPRIATIONS BILL, 2001

                                _______
                                

   June 26, 2000.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

Mr. Hastings of Washington, from the Committee on Rules, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                       [To accompany H. Res. 532]

    The Committee on Rules, having had under consideration 
House Resolution 532, by a nonrecord vote, report the same to 
the House with the recommendation that the resolution be 
adopted.

                summary of provisions of the resolution

    The resolution provides for the consideration of H.R. 4733, 
the Energy and Water Development Appropriations Bill, 2001, 
under an open rule. The rule provides one hour of general 
debate divided equally between the chairman and ranking 
minority member of the Committee on Appropriations.
    The rule waives clause 4 of rule XIII (requiring a three 
day layover of the committee report and requiring a three day 
availability of printed hearings on a general appropriations 
bill) against consideration of the bill. The rule further 
waives clause 2 of rule XXI (prohibiting unauthorized or 
legislative provisions in an appropriations bill) and clause 
5(a) of rule XXI (prohibiting a tax or tariff provision in a 
bill not reported by a committee with jurisdiction over revenue 
measures) against provisions in the bill.
    The rule provides that the amendment printed in this report 
may be offered only by a Member designated in this report and 
only at the appropriate point in the reading of the bill, shall 
be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time 
specified in this report equally divided and controlled by the 
proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, 
and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the 
question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. All 
points of order against the amendment are waived.
    Members who have preprinted their amendments in the 
Congressional Record prior to their consideration will be given 
priority in recognition to offer their amendments if otherwise 
consistent with House rules. The Chairman of the Committee of 
the Whole may postpone votes during consideration of the bill, 
and reduce voting time to five minutes on a postponed question 
if the vote follows a fifteen minute vote. Finally, the rule 
provides for one motion to recommit, with or without 
instruction.
    The waiver of clause 4 of rule XIII is necessary because 
the report was not printed until Monday, June 26, and the bill 
may be considered on the floor as early as Tuesday, June 27. 
The waiver of clause 2 of rule XXI is necessary because there 
are several unauthorized and legislative provisions, as well as 
transfers of funds. Those provisions are described in pages 
154-155 of the Committee Report on the Energy and Water 
Development Appropriations bill, 2001 (106-693). Finally, the 
waiver of clause 5(a) of rule XXI is necessary because Sec. 604 
of the bill (Nuclear Regulatory Commission fee) is a revenue 
provision. Similar provisions have been included in previous 
Energy and Water Appropriations bills because the fee funds the 
commission.

             summary of amendment made in order to the rule

    Sherwood: Replaces section 606 with the text of H.R. 2884, 
the Energy Policy and Conservation Reauthorization Act, as 
passed by the House. (30 minutes)

                    text of amendment made in order

      I. An Amendment To Be Offered by Representative Sherwood of 
         Pennsylvania, or a Designee, Debatable for 30 Minutes

  Page 39, lines 6 through 19, amend section 606 to read as 
follows:
  Sec. 606. (a) 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 
        ``September 30, 2003''; and
          (3) in section 281 (42 U.S.C. 6285) by striking 
        ``March 31, 2000'' both places it appears and inserting 
        ``September 30, 2003''.
  (b) Purchase of Oil From Marginal Wells.--
          (1) 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.''.
          (2) 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.''.

  (c) Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve.--
          (1) Amendment.--Title I of the Energy Policy and 
        Conservation Act is amended by--
                  (A) redesignating part D as part E;
                  (B) redesignating section 181 as section 191; 
                and
                  (C) 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 the 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 known 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.

                              ``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.''.
          (2) 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.

                                  
