109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5254

AN ACT

To set schedules for the consideration of permits for 

refineries.

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

2 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Refinery Permit Proc3 ess Schedule Act’’. 

4 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

5 For purposes of this Act—

6 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad7 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; 

8 (2) the term ‘‘applicant’’ means a person who 

9 is seeking a Federal refinery authorization; 

10 (3) the term ‘‘biomass’’ has the meaning given 

11 that term in section 932(a)(1) of the Energy Policy 

12 Act of 2005; 

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

14 (A) means any authorization required 

15 under Federal law, whether administered by a 

16 Federal or State administrative agency or offi17 cial, with respect to siting, construction, expan18 sion, or operation of a refinery; and 

19 (B) includes any permits, licenses, special 

20 use authorizations, certifications, opinions, or 

21 other approvals required under Federal law 

22 with respect to siting, construction, expansion, 

23 or operation of a refinery; 

24 (5) the term ‘‘refinery’’ means—

25 (A) a facility designed and operated to re26 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 
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1 and refine crude oil by any chemical or physical 

2 process, including distillation, fluid catalytic 

3 cracking, hydrocracking, coking, alkylation, 

4 etherification, polymerization, catalytic reform5 ing, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending, and 

6 any combination thereof, in order to produce 

7 gasoline or distillate; 

8 (B) a facility designed and operated to re9 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 

10 and refine coal by any chemical or physical 

11 process, including liquefaction, in order to 

12 produce gasoline or diesel as its primary out13 put; or 

14 (C) a facility designed and operated to re15 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process (in16 cluding biochemical, photochemical, and bio17 technology processes), and refine biomass in 

18 order to produce biofuel; and 

19 (6) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State, the Dis20 trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

21 Rico, and any other territory or possession of the 

22 United States. 

23 SEC. 3. STATE ASSISTANCE. 

24 (a) STATE ASSISTANCE.—At the request of a gov25 ernor of a State, the Administrator is authorized to pro-
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1 vide financial assistance to that State to facilitate the hir2 ing of additional personnel to assist the State with exper3 tise in fields relevant to consideration of Federal refinery 

4 authorizations. 

5 (b) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—At the request of a gov6 ernor of a State, a Federal agency responsible for a Fed7 eral refinery authorization shall provide technical, legal, 

8 or other nonfinancial assistance to that State to facilitate 

9 its consideration of Federal refinery authorizations. 

10 SEC. 4. REFINERY PROCESS COORDINATION AND PROCE11 DURES. 

12 (a) APPOINTMENT OF FEDERAL COORDINATOR.—

13 (1) IN GENERAL.—The President shall appoint 

14 a Federal coordinator to perform the responsibilities 

15 assigned to the Federal coordinator under this Act. 

16 (2) OTHER AGENCIES.—Each Federal and 

17 State agency or official required to provide a Fed18 eral refinery authorization shall cooperate with the 

19 Federal coordinator. 

20 (b) FEDERAL REFINERY AUTHORIZATIONS.—

21 (1) MEETING PARTICIPANTS.—Not later than 

22 30 days after receiving a notification from an appli23 cant that the applicant is seeking a Federal refinery 

24 authorization pursuant to Federal law, the Federal 

25 coordinator appointed under subsection (a) shall 
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1 convene a meeting of representatives from all Fed2 eral and State agencies responsible for a Federal re3 finery authorization with respect to the refinery. The 

4 governor of a State shall identify each agency of 

5 that State that is responsible for a Federal refinery 

6 authorization with respect to that refinery. 

7 (2) MEMORANDUM OF AGREEMENT.—(A) Not 

8 later than 90 days after receipt of a notification de9 scribed in paragraph (1), the Federal coordinator 

10 and the other participants at a meeting convened 

11 under paragraph (1) shall establish a memorandum 

12 of agreement setting forth the most expeditious co13 ordinated schedule possible for completion of all 

14 Federal refinery authorizations with respect to the 

15 refinery, consistent with the full substantive and 

16 procedural review required by Federal law. If a Fed17 eral or State agency responsible for a Federal refin18 ery authorization with respect to the refinery is not 

19 represented at such meeting, the Federal coordinator 

20 shall ensure that the schedule accommodates those 

21 Federal refinery authorizations, consistent with Fed22 eral law. In the event of conflict among Federal re23 finery authorization scheduling requirements, the re24 quirements of the Environmental Protection Agency 

25 shall be given priority. 
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1 (B) Not later than 15 days after completing the 

2 memorandum of agreement, the Federal coordinator 

3 shall publish the memorandum of agreement in the 

4 Federal Register. 

5 (C) The Federal coordinator shall ensure that 

6 all parties to the memorandum of agreement are 

7 working in good faith to carry out the memorandum 

8 of agreement, and shall facilitate the maintenance of 

9 the schedule established therein. 

10 (c) CONSOLIDATED RECORD.—The Federal coordi11 nator shall, with the cooperation of Federal and State ad12 ministrative agencies and officials, maintain a complete 

13 consolidated record of all decisions made or actions taken 

14 by the Federal coordinator or by a Federal administrative 

15 agency or officer (or State administrative agency or officer 

16 acting under delegated Federal authority) with respect to 

17 any Federal refinery authorization. Such record shall be 

18 the record for judicial review under subsection (d) of deci19 sions made or actions taken by Federal and State adminis20 trative agencies and officials, except that, if the Court de21 termines that the record does not contain sufficient infor22 mation, the Court may remand the proceeding to the Fed23 eral coordinator for further development of the consoli24 dated record. 

25 (d) REMEDIES.—
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1 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States District 

2 Court for the district in which the proposed refinery 

3 is located shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any 

4 civil action for the review of the failure of an agency 

5 or official to act on a Federal refinery authorization 

6 in accordance with the schedule established pursuant 

7 to the memorandum of agreement. 

8 (2) STANDING.—If an applicant or a party to 

9 a memorandum of agreement alleges that a failure 

10 to act described in paragraph (1) has occurred and 

11 that such failure to act would jeopardize timely com12 pletion of the entire schedule as established in the 

13 memorandum of agreement, such applicant or other 

14 party may bring a cause of action under this sub15 section. 

16 (3) COURT ACTION.—If an action is brought 

17 under paragraph (2), the Court shall review whether 

18 the parties to the memorandum of agreement have 

19 been acting in good faith, whether the applicant has 

20 been cooperating fully with the agencies that are re21 sponsible for issuing a Federal refinery authoriza22 tion, and any other relevant materials in the consoli23 dated record. Taking into consideration those fac24 tors, if the Court finds that a failure to act de25 scribed in paragraph (1) has occurred, and that such 
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1 failure to act would jeopardize timely completion of 

2 the entire schedule as established in the memo3 randum of agreement, the Court shall establish a 

4 new schedule that is the most expeditious coordi5 nated schedule possible for completion of 

6 preceedings, consistent with the full substantive and 

7 procedural review required by Federal law. The 

8 court may issue orders to enforce any schedule it es9 tablishes under this paragraph. 

10 (4) FEDERAL COORDINATOR’S ACTION.—When 

11 any civil action is brought under this subsection, the 

12 Federal coordinator shall immediately file with the 

13 Court the consolidated record compiled by the Fed14 eral coordinator pursuant to subsection (c). 

15 (5) EXPEDITED REVIEW.—The Court shall set 

16 any civil action brought under this subsection for ex17 pedited consideration. 

18 SEC. 5. DESIGNATION OF CLOSED MILITARY BASES. 

19 (a) DESIGNATION REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

20 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Presi21 dent shall designate no less than 3 closed military installa22 tions, or portions thereof, as potentially suitable for the 

23 construction of a refinery. At least 1 such site shall be 

24 designated as potentially suitable for construction of a re25 finery to refine biomass in order to produce biofuel. 
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1 (b) REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.—The redevelop2 ment authority for each installation designated under sub3 section (a), in preparing or revising the redevelopment 

4 plan for the installation, shall consider the feasibility and 

5 practicability of siting a refinery on the installation. 

6 (c) MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSAL OF REAL PROP7 ERTY.—The Secretary of Defense, in managing and dis8 posing of real property at an installation designated under 

9 subsection (a) pursuant to the base closure law applicable 

10 to the installation, shall give substantial deference to the 

11 recommendations of the redevelopment authority, as con12 tained in the redevelopment plan for the installation, re13 garding the siting of a refinery on the installation. The 

14 management and disposal of real property at a closed mili15 tary installation or portion thereof found to be suitable 

16 for the siting of a refinery under subsection (a) shall be 

17 carried out in the manner provided by the base closure 

18 law applicable to the installation. 

19 (d) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section—

20 (1) the term ‘‘base closure law’’ means the De21 fense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 

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

23 U.S.C. 2687 note) and title II of the Defense Au24 thorization Amendments and Base Closure and Re-
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1 alignment Act (Public Law 100–526; 10 U.S.C. 

2 2687 note); and 

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

4 means a military installation closed or approved for 

5 closure pursuant to a base closure law. 

6 SEC. 6. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

7 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect the 

8 application of any environmental or other law, or to pre9 vent any party from bringing a cause of action under any 

10 environmental or other law, including citizen suits. 

11 SEC. 7. REFINERY REVITALIZATION REPEAL. 

12 Subtitle H of title III of the Energy Policy Act of 

13 2005 and the items relating thereto in the table of con14 tents of such Act are repealed.

Passed the House of Representatives June 7, 2006. 

Attest:

Clerk. 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5254

AN ACT

To set schedules for the consideration of permits 

for refineries.