I

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4784

To provide for the establishment of a Midwest Clean Air Gasoline Reserve

to ensure the availability of gasoline in the Midwest.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

JUNE 29, 2000

Mrs. BIGGERT (for herself, Mr. GREEN of Wisconsin, and Mr. LAHOOD) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on

Commerce

A BILL

To provide for the establishment of a Midwest Clean Air

Gasoline Reserve to ensure the availability of gasoline

in the Midwest.

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

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Midwest Clean Air

5 Gasoline Reserve Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. AUTHORITY TO ESTABLISH RESERVE.

7 The Secretary of Energy may establish, maintain,

8 and operate in the Midwest a Midwest Clean Air Gasoline

9 Reserve. A Reserve established under this Act is not a
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1 component of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. A Reserve

2 established under this Act shall contain no more than

3 1,000,000 barrels of reformulated gasoline.

4 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.

5 For purposes of this Act—

6 (1) the term ‘‘Midwest’’ means the States or

7 parts of States of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas,

8 Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North

9 Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin which

10 are required by the Environmental Protection Agen11 cy under section 211(k) of the Clear Air Act to use

12 reformulated gasoline; and

13 (2) the term ‘‘reformulated gasoline’’ includes

14 any of the compositions of gasoline which are re15 quired by the Environmental Protection Agency,

16 under section 211(k) of the Clean Air Act, to be

17 used.

18 SEC. 4. SECRETARY’S AUTHORITY.

19 To the extent necessary or appropriate to carry out

20 this Act, the Secretary of Energy may—

21 (1) purchase, contract for, lease, or otherwise

22 acquire, in whole or in part, storage and related fa23 cilities, and storage services;
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1 (2) use, lease, maintain, sell, or otherwise dis2 pose of storage and related facilities required under

3 this Act;

4 (3) acquire by purchase, exchange (including

5 exchange of petroleum products from the Strategic

6 Petroleum Reserve or received as royalty from Fed7 eral lands), lease, or otherwise—

8 (A) reformulated gasoline; or

9 (B) petroleum products for refinement into

10 reformulated gasoline,

11 for storage in the Midwest Clean Air Gasoline Re12 serve;

13 (4) enter into contracts or other arrangements

14 for the storage of reformulated gasoline or other pe15 troleum products in facilities not owned by the

16 United States; and

17 (5) sell, exchange, or otherwise dispose of refor18 mulated gasoline or other petroleum products from

19 the Reserve established under this Act pursuant to

20 section 5.

21 SEC. 5. CONDITIONS FOR RELEASE; PLAN.

22 (a) CONDITIONS FOR RELEASE.—Except as provided

23 in subsection (b), the Secretary of Energy may release re24 formulated gasoline only in the event of—

25 (1) a severe energy supply disruption;
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1 (2) a severe price increase; or

2 (3) another emergency affecting the Midwest,

3 which the President determines to merit a release from

4 the Reserve.

5 (b) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary of Energy may, on

6 terms the Secretary considers reasonable, sell, exchange,

7 or otherwise dispose of reformulated gasoline from the Re8 serve established under this Act in order to maintain the

9 quality or quantity of the reformulated gasoline stocks in

10 the Reserve or to maintain the operational capability of

11 the Reserve.

12 (c) PLAN.—Within 45 days after the date of the en13 actment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy shall trans14 mit to the Congress a report indicating whether the Sec15 retary intends to establish a Reserve under this Act or

16 not. If the Secretary intends to establish a Reserve, the

17 report shall include—

18 (1) a plan for the acquisition of storage and re19 lated facilities or storage services for the Reserve;

20 (2) a plan for the acquisition of reformulated

21 gasoline or other petroleum products for storage in

22 the Reserve;

23 (3) a description of the anticipated methods of

24 disposition of reformulated gasoline or other petro25 leum products from the Reserve; and
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1 (4) a description of the estimated costs of es2 tablishment, maintenance, and operation of the Re3 serve.

4 If the Secretary decides not to establish a Reserve, the

5 report shall include an explanation of the reasons for such

6 decision.

7 (d) STORAGE.—The storage under this Act of refor8 mulated gasoline or other petroleum products in a storage

9 facility that meets all applicable Federal and State envi10 ronmental requirements shall not be considered a ‘‘major

11 Federal action significantly affecting the quality of the

12 human environment’’ as that term is used in section

13 102(2)(C) of the National Environmental Policy Act of

14 1969.

15 SEC. 6. MIDWEST CLEAN AIR GASOLINE RESERVE

16 ACCOUNT.

17 (a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Upon a decision of the Sec18 retary of Energy to establish a Reserve under this Act,

19 the Secretary of the Treasury shall establish in the Treas20 ury of the United States an account known as the Midwest

21 Clean Air Gasoline Reserve Account (referred to in this

22 section as the ‘‘Account’’).

23 (b) DEPOSITS.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall

24 deposit in the Account any amounts appropriated to the
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1 Account and any receipts from the sale, exchange, or other

2 disposition of reformulated gasoline from the Reserve.

3 (c) USE OF FUNDS.—The Secretary of Energy may

4 obligate amounts in the Account to carry out activities

5 under this Act without the need for further appropriation,

6 and amounts available to the Secretary of Energy for obli7 gation under this section shall remain available without

8 fiscal year limitation.

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