I 

109TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5254 

To set schedules for the consideration of permits for refineries. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 2, 2006 

Mr. BASS (for himself, Mr. BARTON of Texas, Mr. KIRK, Mrs. BONO, Mr. 

SHIMKUS, Mr. DEAL of Georgia, Mr. HALL, Mr. PITTS, Mr. NORWOOD, 

Mr. SULLIVAN, Mr. BURGESS, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. BUYER, Mr. CHOCOLA, 

Mr. PICKERING, Mrs. CUBIN, Mr. UPTON, Mr. JOHNSON of Illinois, Mr. 

GERLACH, and Mr. PORTER) 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 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, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Refinery Permit Proc5 ess Schedule Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS. 

7 For purposes of this Act— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad2 ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; 

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

4 is seeking a Federal refinery authorization; 

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

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

7 Act of 2005; 

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

9 (A) means any authorization required 

10 under Federal law, whether administered by a 

11 Federal or State administrative agency or offi12 cial, with respect to siting, construction, expan13 sion, or operation of a refinery; and 

14 (B) includes any permits, licenses, special 

15 use authorizations, certifications, opinions, or 

16 other approvals required under Federal law 

17 with respect to siting, construction, expansion, 

18 or operation of a refinery; 

19 (5) the term ‘‘refinery’’ means— 

20 (A) a facility designed and operated to re21 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 

22 and refine crude oil by any chemical or physical 

23 process, including distillation, fluid catalytic 

24 cracking, hydrocracking, coking, alkylation, 

25 etherification, polymerization, catalytic reformVerDate Aug 31 2005 02:18 May 03, 2006 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5254.IH H5254

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1 ing, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending, and 

2 any combination thereof, in order to produce 

3 gasoline or distillate; 

4 (B) a facility designed and operated to re5 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 

6 and refine coal by any chemical or physical 

7 process, including liquefaction, in order to 

8 produce gasoline or diesel as its primary out9 put; or 

10 (C) a facility designed and operated to re11 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process (in12 cluding biochemical, photochemical, and bio13 technology processes), and refine biomass in 

14 order to produce biofuel; and 

15 (6) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State, the Dis16 trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

17 Rico, and any other territory or possession of the 

18 United States. 

19 SEC. 3. STATE ASSISTANCE. 

20 (a) STATE ASSISTANCE.—At the request of a gov21 ernor of a State, the Administrator is authorized to pro22 vide financial assistance to that State to facilitate the hir23 ing of additional personnel to assist the State with exper24 tise in fields relevant to consideration of Federal refinery 

25 authorizations. 


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1 (b) OTHER ASSISTANCE.—At the request of a gov2 ernor of a State, a Federal agency responsible for a Fed3 eral refinery authorization shall provide technical, legal, 

4 or other nonfinancial assistance to that State to facilitate 

5 its consideration of Federal refinery authorizations. 

6 SEC. 4. REFINERY PROCESS COORDINATION AND PROCE7 DURES. 

8 (a) APPOINTMENT OF FEDERAL COORDINATOR.— 

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

10 a Federal coordinator to perform the responsibilities 

11 assigned to the Federal coordinator under this Act. 

12 (2) OTHER AGENCIES.—Each Federal and 

13 State agency or official required to provide a Fed14 eral refinery authorization shall cooperate with the 

15 Federal coordinator. 

16 (b) FEDERAL REFINERY AUTHORIZATIONS.— 

17 (1) MEETING PARTICIPANTS.—Not later than 

18 30 days after receiving a notification from an appli19 cant that the applicant is seeking a Federal refinery 

20 authorization pursuant to Federal law, the Federal 

21 coordinator appointed under subsection (a) shall 

22 convene a meeting of representatives from all Fed23 eral and State agencies responsible for a Federal re24 finery authorization with respect to the refinery. The 

25 governor of a State shall identify each agency of 


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1 that State that is responsible for a Federal refinery 

2 authorization with respect to that refinery. 

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

4 later than 90 days after receipt of a notification de5 scribed in paragraph (1), the Federal coordinator 

6 and the other participants at a meeting convened 

7 under paragraph (1) shall establish a memorandum 

8 of agreement setting forth the most expeditious co9 ordinated schedule possible for completion of all 

10 Federal refinery authorizations with respect to the 

11 refinery, consistent with the full substantive and 

12 procedural review required by Federal law. If a Fed13 eral or State agency responsible for a Federal refin14 ery authorization with respect to the refinery is not 

15 represented at such meeting, the Federal coordinator 

16 shall ensure that the schedule accommodates those 

17 Federal refinery authorizations, consistent with Fed18 eral law. In the event of conflict among Federal re19 finery authorization scheduling requirements, the re20 quirements of the Environmental Protection Agency 

21 shall be given priority. 

22 (B) Not later than 15 days after completing the 

23 memorandum of agreement, the Federal coordinator 

24 shall publish the memorandum of agreement in the 

25 Federal Register. 


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1 (C) The Federal coordinator shall ensure that 

2 all parties to the memorandum of agreement are 

3 working in good faith to carry out the memorandum 

4 of agreement, and shall facilitate the maintenance of 

5 the schedule established therein. 

6 (c) CONSOLIDATED RECORD.—The Federal coordi7 nator shall, with the cooperation of Federal and State ad8 ministrative agencies and officials, maintain a complete 

9 consolidated record of all decisions made or actions taken 

10 by the Federal coordinator or by a Federal administrative 

11 agency or officer (or State administrative agency or officer 

12 acting under delegated Federal authority) with respect to 

13 any Federal refinery authorization. Such record shall be 

14 the record for judicial review under subsection (d) of deci15 sions made or actions taken by Federal and State adminis16 trative agencies and officials, except that, if the Court de17 termines that the record does not contain sufficient infor18 mation, the Court may remand the proceeding to the Fed19 eral coordinator for further development of the consoli20 dated record. 

21 (d) REMEDIES.— 

22 (1) IN GENERAL.—The United States District 

23 Court for the district in which the proposed refinery 

24 is located shall have exclusive jurisdiction over any 

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


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1 or official to act on a Federal refinery authorization 

2 in accordance with the schedule established pursuant 

3 to the memorandum of agreement. 

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

5 a memorandum of agreement alleges that a failure 

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

7 that such failure to act would jeopardize timely com8 pletion of the entire schedule as established in the 

9 memorandum of agreement, such applicant or other 

10 party may bring a cause of action under this sub11 section. 

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

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

14 the parties to the memorandum of agreement have 

15 been acting in good faith, whether the applicant has 

16 been cooperating fully with the agencies that are re17 sponsible for issuing a Federal refinery authoriza18 tion, and any other relevant materials in the consoli19 dated record. Taking into consideration those fac20 tors, if the Court finds that a failure to act de21 scribed in paragraph (1) has occurred, and that such 

22 failure to act would jeopardize timely completion of 

23 the entire schedule as established in the memo24 randum of agreement, the Court shall establish a 

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1 nated schedule possible for completion of 

2 preceedings, consistent with the full substantive and 

3 procedural review required by Federal law. The 

4 court may issue orders to enforce any schedule it es5 tablishes under this paragraph. 

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

7 any civil action is brought under this subsection, the 

8 Federal coordinator shall immediately file with the 

9 Court the consolidated record compiled by the Fed10 eral coordinator pursuant to subsection (c). 

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

12 any civil action brought under this subsection for ex13 pedited consideration. 

14 SEC. 5. DESIGNATION OF CLOSED MILITARY BASES. 

15 (a) DESIGNATION REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

16 90 days after the date of enactment of this Act, the Presi17 dent shall designate no less than 3 closed military installa18 tions, or portions thereof, as potentially suitable for the 

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

20 designated as potentially suitable for construction of a re21 finery to refine biomass in order to produce biofuel. 

22 (b) REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.—The redevelop23 ment authority for each installation designated under sub24 section (a), in preparing or revising the redevelopment 


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1 plan for the installation, shall consider the feasibility and 

2 practicability of siting a refinery on the installation. 

3 (c) MANAGEMENT AND DISPOSAL OF REAL PROP4 ERTY.—The Secretary of Defense, in managing and dis5 posing of real property at an installation designated under 

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

7 to the installation, shall give substantial deference to the 

8 recommendations of the redevelopment authority, as con9 tained in the redevelopment plan for the installation, re10 garding the siting of a refinery on the installation. The 

11 management and disposal of real property at a closed mili12 tary installation or portion thereof found to be suitable 

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

14 carried out in the manner provided by the base closure 

15 law applicable to the installation. 

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

17 (1) the term ‘‘base closure law’’ means the De18 fense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 

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

20 U.S.C. 2687 note) and title II of the Defense Au21 thorization Amendments and Base Closure and Re22 alignment Act (Public Law 100–526; 10 U.S.C. 

23 2687 note); and 


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

2 means a military installation closed or approved for 

3 closure pursuant to a base closure law. 

4 SEC. 6. SAVINGS CLAUSE. 

5 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to affect the 

6 application of any environmental or other law, or to pre7 vent any party from bringing a cause of action under any 

8 environmental or other law, including citizen suits. 

9 SEC. 7. REFINERY REVITALIZATION REPEAL. 

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

11 2005 and the items relating thereto in the table of con12 tents of such Act are repealed. 

Æ 


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