I 

110TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 2279 

To expedite the construction of new refining capacity on closed military 

installations in the United States, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 10, 2007 

Mr. PITTS (for himself, Mr. WESTMORELAND, Mr. BUYER, Mrs. DRAKE, Mr. 

GOODLATTE, Mr. ENGLISH of Pennsylvania, Mr. CONAWAY, Ms. GINNY

BROWN-WAITE of Florida, Mr. POE, and Mr. SOUDER) introduced the 

following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee on Armed Services, for a period 

to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee 

concerned 

A BILL 

To expedite the construction of new refining capacity on 

closed military installations in the United States, and 

for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. DEFINITIONS. 

4 For purposes of this Act— 

5 (1) the term ‘‘base closure law’’ means the De6 fense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 

7 (part A of title XXIX of Public Law 101–510; 10 


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1 U.S.C. 2687 note) and title II of the Defense Au2 thorization Amendments and Base Closure and Re3 alignment Act (Public Law 100–526; 10 U.S.C. 

4 2687 note); 

5 (2) the term ‘‘closed military installation’’ 

6 means a military installation closed or approved for 

7 closure pursuant to a base closure law; 

8 (3) the term ‘‘designated refinery’’ means a re9 finery designated under section 2(a); 

10 (4) the term ‘‘Federal refinery authorization’’— 

11 (A) means any authorization required 

12 under Federal law, whether administered by a 

13 Federal or State administrative agency or offi14 cial, with respect to siting, construction, expan15 sion, or operation of a refinery; and 

16 (B) includes any permits, special use au17 thorizations, certifications, opinions, or other 

18 approvals required under Federal law with re19 spect to siting, construction, expansion, or oper20 ation of a refinery; 

21 (5) the term ‘‘refinery’’ means— 

22 (A) a facility designed and operated to re23 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 

24 and refine crude oil by any chemical or physical 

25 process, including distillation, fluid catalytic 


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1 cracking, hydrocracking, coking, alkylation, 

2 etherification, polymerization, catalytic reform3 ing, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending, and 

4 any combination thereof, in order to produce 

5 gasoline or other fuel; or 

6 (B) a facility designed and operated to re7 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 

8 and refine coal by any chemical or physical 

9 process, including liquefaction, in order to 

10 produce gasoline, diesel, or other liquid fuel as 

11 its primary output; 

12 (6) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 

13 of Energy; and 

14 (7) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State, the Dis15 trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

16 Rico, and any other territory or possession of the 

17 United States. 

18 SEC. 2. STATE PARTICIPATION AND PRESIDENTIAL DES19 IGNATION. 

20 (a) DESIGNATION REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

21 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Presi22 dent shall designate no less than 3 closed military installa23 tions, or portions thereof, subject to subsection (c)(2), that 

24 are appropriate for the purposes of siting a refinery. 


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1 (b) ANALYSIS OF REFINERY SITES.—In considering 

2 any site for possible designation under subsection (a), the 

3 President shall conduct an analysis of— 

4 (1) the availability of crude oil supplies to the 

5 site, including supplies from domestic production of 

6 shale oil and tar sands and other strategic uncon7 ventional fuels; 

8 (2) the distribution of the Nation’s refined pe9 troleum product demand; 

10 (3) whether such site is in close proximity to 

11 substantial pipeline infrastructure, including both 

12 crude oil and refined petroleum product pipelines, 

13 and potential infrastructure feasibility; 

14 (4) the need to diversify the geographical loca15 tion of the domestic refining capacity; 

16 (5) the effect that increased refined petroleum 

17 products from a refinery on that site may have on 

18 the price and supply of gasoline to consumers; 

19 (6) the impact of locating a refinery on the site 

20 on the readiness and operations of the Armed 

21 Forces; and 

22 (7) such other factors as the President con23 siders appropriate. 

24 (c) SALE OR DISPOSAL.— 


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1 (1) DESIGNATION.—Except as provided in 

2 paragraph (2), until the expiration of 2 years after 

3 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Gov4 ernment shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the 

5 military installations designated pursuant to sub6 section (a). 

7 (2) GOVERNOR’S OBJECTION.—No site may be 

8 used for a refinery under this Act if, not later than 

9 60 days after designation of the site under sub10 section (a), the Governor of the State in which the 

11 site is located transmits to the President an objec12 tion to the designation, unless, not later than 60 

13 days after the President receives such objection, the 

14 Congress has by law overridden the objection. 

15 (d) REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.—With respect to 

16 a closed military installation, or portion thereof, des17 ignated by the President as a potentially suitable refinery 

18 site pursuant to subsection (a)— 

19 (1) the redevelopment authority for the installa20 tion, in preparing or revising the redevelopment plan 

21 for the installation, shall consider the feasibility and 

22 practicability of siting a refinery on the installation; 

23 and 

24 (2) the Secretary of Defense, in managing and 

25 disposing of real property at the installation pursuVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:23 May 11, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2279.IH H2279

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1 ant to the base closure law applicable to the installa2 tion, shall give substantial deference to the rec3 ommendations of the redevelopment authority, as 

4 contained in the redevelopment plan for the installa5 tion, regarding the siting of a refinery on the instal6 lation. 

7 SEC. 3. PROCESS COORDINATION AND RULES OF PROCE8 DURE. 

9 (a) DESIGNATION AS LEAD AGENCY.— 

10 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Department of Energy 

11 shall act as the lead agency for the purposes of co12 ordinating all applicable Federal refinery authoriza13 tions and related environmental reviews with respect 

14 to a designated refinery. 

15 (2) OTHER AGENCIES.—Each Federal and 

16 State agency or official required to provide a Fed17 eral refinery authorization shall cooperate with the 

18 Secretary and comply with the deadlines established 

19 by the Secretary. 

20 (b) SCHEDULE.— 

21 (1) SECRETARY’S AUTHORITY TO SET SCHED22 ULE.—The Secretary shall establish a schedule for 

23 all Federal refinery authorizations with respect to a 

24 designated refinery. In establishing the schedule, the 

25 Secretary shall— 


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1 (A) ensure expeditious completion of all 

2 such proceedings; and 

3 (B) accommodate the applicable schedules 

4 established by Federal law for such proceedings. 

5 (2) FAILURE TO MEET SCHEDULE.—If a Fed6 eral or State administrative agency or official does 

7 not complete a proceeding for an approval that is re8 quired for a Federal refinery authorization in ac9 cordance with the schedule established by the Sec10 retary under this subsection, the applicant may pur11 sue remedies under subsection (d). 

12 (c) CONSOLIDATED RECORD.—The Secretary shall, 

13 with the cooperation of Federal and State administrative 

14 agencies and officials, maintain a complete consolidated 

15 record of all decisions made or actions taken by the Sec16 retary or by a Federal administrative agency or officer (or 

17 State administrative agency or officer acting under dele18 gated Federal authority) with respect to any Federal re19 finery authorization. Such record shall be the record for 

20 judicial review under subsection (d) of decisions made or 

21 actions taken by Federal and State administrative agen22 cies and officials, except that, if the Court determines that 

23 the record does not contain sufficient information, the 

24 Court may remand the proceeding to the Secretary for fur25 ther development of the consolidated record. 


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1 (d) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 

2 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States Court of 

3 Appeals for the District of Columbia shall have 

4 original and exclusive jurisdiction over any civil ac5 tion for the review of— 

6 (A) an order or action, related to a Federal 

7 refinery authorization, by a Federal or State 

8 administrative agency or official; and 

9 (B) an alleged failure to act by a Federal 

10 or State administrative agency or official acting 

11 pursuant to a Federal refinery authorization. 

12 The failure of an agency or official to act on a Fed13 eral refinery authorization in accordance with the 

14 Secretary’s schedule established pursuant to sub15 section (b) shall be considered inconsistent with Fed16 eral law for the purposes of paragraph (2) of this 

17 subsection. 

18 (2) COURT ACTION.—If the Court finds that an 

19 order or action described in paragraph (1)(A) is in20 consistent with the Federal law governing such Fed21 eral refinery authorization, or that a failure to act 

22 as described in paragraph (1)(B) has occurred, and 

23 the order, action, or failure to act would prevent the 

24 siting, construction, expansion, or operation of the 

25 designated refinery, the Court shall remand the proVerDate Aug 31 2005 20:23 May 11, 2007 Jkt 059200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H2279.IH H2279

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1 ceeding to the agency or official to take appropriate 

2 action consistent with the order of the Court. If the 

3 Court remands the order, action, or failure to act to 

4 the Federal or State administrative agency or offi5 cial, the Court shall set a reasonable schedule and 

6 deadline for the agency or official to act on remand. 

7 (3) SECRETARY’S ACTION.—For any civil action 

8 brought under this subsection, the Secretary shall 

9 promptly file with the Court the consolidated record 

10 compiled by the Secretary pursuant to subsection 

11 (c). 

12 (4) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—The Court shall set 

13 any civil action brought under this subsection for ex14 pedited consideration. 

15 (5) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In any action chal16 lenging a Federal refinery authorization that has 

17 been granted, reasonable attorney’s fees and other 

18 expenses of litigation shall be awarded to the pre19 vailing party. This paragraph shall not apply to any 

20 action seeking remedies for denial of a Federal refin21 ery authorization or failure to act on an application 

22 for a Federal refinery authorization. 

Æ 


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