I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7019 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program to lease 

underutilized Strategic Petroleum Reserve facilities, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 26, 2020 

Mr. SCALISE (for himself and Mr. CUELLAR) introduced the following bill; 

which was referred to the Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL 

To authorize the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program 

to lease underutilized Strategic Petroleum Reserve facilities, 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategic Petroleum 

5 Reserve Reform Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. USE OF UNDERUTILIZED STRATEGIC PETROLEUM 

7 RESERVE FACILITIES. 

8 Section 168 of the Energy Policy and Conservation 

9 Act (42 U.S.C. 6247a) is amended to read as follows: 


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1 ‘‘SEC. 168. USE OF UNDERUTILIZED FACILITIES. 

2 ‘‘(a) AUTHORITY.—Notwithstanding any other provi3 sion of this title, the Secretary may establish and carry 

4 out a program to make available, by lease or otherwise, 

5 underutilized Strategic Petroleum Reserve storage facili6 ties and related facilities to the private sector, or a foreign 

7 government or its representative, for any term and under 

8 such other conditions as the Secretary considers necessary 

9 or appropriate. Petroleum products stored under this sec10 tion are not part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 

11 ‘‘(b) PROTECTION OF FACILITIES.—Any lease en12 tered into under the program established under subsection 

13 (a) shall contain provisions providing for fees to fully com14 pensate the United States for all related costs of storage 

15 and removals of petroleum products (including the propor16 tionate cost of replacement facilities necessitated as a re17 sult of any withdrawals) incurred by the United States 

18 as a result of such lease. 

19 ‘‘(c) ACCESS BY THE UNITED STATES.—The Sec20 retary shall ensure that leasing of facilities under the pro21 gram established under subsection (a) does not impair the 

22 ability of the United States to withdraw, distribute, or sell 

23 petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 

24 in response to an energy emergency or to the obligations 

25 of the United States under the Agreement on an Inter26 national Energy Program. 


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1 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL SECURITY.—The Secretary shall en2 sure that leasing of facilities under the program estab3 lished under subsection (a) to a foreign government or its 

4 representative will not impair national security. 

5 ‘‘(e) DEPOSITS OF AMOUNTS RECEIVED.— 

6 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para7 graph (2), amounts received through the leasing of 

8 facilities under the program established under sub9 section (a) shall be deposited in the general fund of 

10 the Treasury during the fiscal year in which such 

11 amounts are received. 

12 ‘‘(2) COSTS.—The Secretary may use for costs 

13 described in subsection (b) (other than costs de14 scribed in subsection (f)), without further appropria15 tion, amounts received through the leasing of facili16 ties under the program established under subsection 

17 (a). 

18 ‘‘(f) PREPARATION OF FACILITIES.—The Secretary 

19 shall only use amounts available in the Energy Security 

20 and Infrastructure Modernization Fund established by 

21 section 404 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 for costs 

22 described in subsection (b) of this section that relate to 

23 addition of facilities or changes to facilities or facility op24 erations necessary to lease such facilities, including costs 

25 related to acquisition of land, acquisition of ancillary faVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:57 Jun 17, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7019.IH H7019

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1 cilities and equipment, and site development, and other 

2 necessary costs related to capital improvement.’’. 

3 SEC. 3. PILOT PROGRAM TO LEASE STRATEGIC PETRO4 LEUM RESERVE FACILITIES. 

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title I of the Energy 

6 Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6231 et seq.) is 

7 amended by adding at the end the following: 

8 ‘‘SEC. 170. PILOT PROGRAM TO LEASE STORAGE AND RE9 LATED FACILITIES. 

10 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—In carrying out section 168 

11 and not later than 180 days after the date of enactment 

12 of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Reform Act, the Sec13 retary shall establish and carry out a pilot program to 

14 make available for lease— 

15 ‘‘(1) capacity for storage of up to 200,000,000 

16 barrels of petroleum products at Strategic Petroleum 

17 Reserve storage facilities; and 

18 ‘‘(2) related facilities. 

19 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—In carrying out the pilot program 

20 established under subsection (a), the Secretary shall— 

21 ‘‘(1) identify appropriate Strategic Petroleum 

22 Reserve storage facilities and related facilities to 

23 lease, in order to make maximum use of such facili24 ties; 


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1 ‘‘(2) identify and implement any changes to fa2 cilities or facility operations necessary to so lease 

3 such facilities, including any such changes necessary 

4 to ensure the long-term structural viability and use 

5 of the facilities for purposes of this part and part C; 

6 ‘‘(3) make such facilities available for lease; and 

7 ‘‘(4) identify environmental effects, including 

8 benefits, of leasing storage facilities and related fa9 cilities. 

10 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date 

11 of enactment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Reform 

12 Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report on 

13 the status of the pilot program established under sub14 section (a).’’. 

15 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con16 tents for the Energy Policy and Conservation Act is 

17 amended by adding after the item relating to section 169 

18 the following: 

‘‘Sec. 170. Pilot program to lease storage and related facilities.’’. 

Æ 


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