I 

111TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 896 

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 

FEBRUARY 4, 2009 

Mr. PITTS (for himself, Mr. BARTLETT, Mr. GINGREY of Georgia, Mr. PENCE, 

Mr. COLE, Mr. HERGER, Mr. LATTA, Mrs. BLACKBURN, Ms. FALLIN, 

Mr. BRADY of Texas, Mr. ISSA, Mr. BROWN of South Carolina, Ms. 

FOXX, Mr. MARCHANT, Mr. MCKEON, Mr. AKIN, Mr. CONAWAY, Mr. 

WESTMORELAND, Mr. MILLER of Florida, Mr. RADANOVICH, Mr. 

LAMBORN, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. ROONEY, Mrs. MYRICK, Mrs. BACHMANN, 

Mr. ROGERS of Kentucky, Mr. BURTON of Indiana, Mr. LEE of New 

York, Mr. WILSON of South Carolina, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. BROUN of 

Georgia, Mr. SENSENBRENNER, Mr. WITTMAN, Mr. KLINE of Minnesota, 

and Mr. LINDER) 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— 


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1 (1) the term ‘‘base closure law’’ means the De2 fense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 

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

4 U.S.C. 2687 note) and title II of the Defense Au5 thorization Amendments and Base Closure and Re6 alignment Act (Public Law 100–526; 10 U.S.C. 

7 2687 note); 

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

9 means a military installation closed or approved for 

10 closure pursuant to a base closure law; 

11 (3) the term ‘‘designated refinery’’ means a re12 finery designated under section 2(a); 

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, special use au20 thorizations, certifications, opinions, or other 

21 approvals required under Federal law with re22 spect to siting, construction, expansion, or oper23 ation of a refinery; 

24 (5) the term ‘‘refinery’’ means— 


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1 (A) a facility designed and operated to re2 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 

3 and refine crude oil by any chemical or physical 

4 process, including distillation, fluid catalytic 

5 cracking, hydrocracking, coking, alkylation, 

6 etherification, polymerization, catalytic reform7 ing, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending, and 

8 any combination thereof, in order to produce 

9 gasoline or other fuel; or 

10 (B) a facility designed and operated to re11 ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 

12 and refine coal by any chemical or physical 

13 process, including liquefaction, in order to 

14 produce gasoline, diesel, or other liquid fuel as 

15 its primary output; 

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

17 of Energy; and 

18 (7) the term ‘‘State’’ means a State, the Dis19 trict of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto 

20 Rico, and any other territory or possession of the 

21 United States. 

22 SEC. 2. STATE PARTICIPATION AND PRESIDENTIAL DES23 IGNATION. 

24 (a) DESIGNATION REQUIREMENT.—Not later than 

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1 dent shall designate no less than 3 closed military installa2 tions, or portions thereof, subject to subsection (c)(2), that 

3 are appropriate for the purposes of siting a refinery. 

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

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

6 President shall conduct an analysis of— 

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

8 site, including supplies from domestic production of 

9 shale oil and tar sands and other strategic uncon10 ventional fuels; 

11 (2) the distribution of the Nation’s refined pe12 troleum product demand; 

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

14 substantial pipeline infrastructure, including both 

15 crude oil and refined petroleum product pipelines, 

16 and potential infrastructure feasibility; 

17 (4) the need to diversify the geographical loca18 tion of the domestic refining capacity; 

19 (5) the effect that increased refined petroleum 

20 products from a refinery on that site may have on 

21 the price and supply of gasoline to consumers; 

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

23 on the readiness and operations of the Armed 

24 Forces; and 


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1 (7) such other factors as the President con2 siders appropriate. 

3 (c) SALE OR DISPOSAL.— 

4 (1) DESIGNATION.—Except as provided in 

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

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Federal Gov7 ernment shall not sell or otherwise dispose of the 

8 military installations designated pursuant to sub9 section (a). 

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

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

12 60 days after designation of the site under sub13 section (a), the Governor of the State in which the 

14 site is located transmits to the President an objec15 tion to the designation, unless, not later than 60 

16 days after the President receives such objection, the 

17 Congress has by law overridden the objection. 

18 (d) REDEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY.—With respect to 

19 a closed military installation, or portion thereof, des20 ignated by the President as a potentially suitable refinery 

21 site pursuant to subsection (a)— 

22 (1) the redevelopment authority for the installa23 tion, in preparing or revising the redevelopment plan 

24 for the installation, shall consider the feasibility and 


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1 practicability of siting a refinery on the installation; 

2 and 

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

4 disposing of real property at the installation pursu5 ant to the base closure law applicable to the installa6 tion, shall give substantial deference to the rec7 ommendations of the redevelopment authority, as 

8 contained in the redevelopment plan for the installa9 tion, regarding the siting of a refinery on the instal10 lation. 

11 SEC. 3. PROCESS COORDINATION AND RULES OF PROCE12 DURE. 

13 (a) DESIGNATION AS LEAD AGENCY.— 

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

15 shall act as the lead agency for the purposes of co16 ordinating all applicable Federal refinery authoriza17 tions and related environmental reviews with respect 

18 to a designated refinery. 

19 (2) OTHER AGENCIES.—Each Federal and 

20 State agency or official required to provide a Fed21 eral refinery authorization shall cooperate with the 

22 Secretary and comply with the deadlines established 

23 by the Secretary. 

24 (b) SCHEDULE.— 


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1 (1) SECRETARY’S AUTHORITY TO SET SCHED2 ULE.—The Secretary shall establish a schedule for 

3 all Federal refinery authorizations with respect to a 

4 designated refinery. In establishing the schedule, the 

5 Secretary shall— 

6 (A) ensure expeditious completion of all 

7 such proceedings; and 

8 (B) accommodate the applicable schedules 

9 established by Federal law for such proceedings. 

10 (2) FAILURE TO MEET SCHEDULE.—If a Fed11 eral or State administrative agency or official does 

12 not complete a proceeding for an approval that is re13 quired for a Federal refinery authorization in ac14 cordance with the schedule established by the Sec15 retary under this subsection, the applicant may pur16 sue remedies under subsection (d). 

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

18 with the cooperation of Federal and State administrative 

19 agencies and officials, maintain a complete consolidated 

20 record of all decisions made or actions taken by the Sec21 retary or by a Federal administrative agency or officer (or 

22 State administrative agency or officer acting under dele23 gated Federal authority) with respect to any Federal re24 finery authorization. Such record shall be the record for 

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


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1 actions taken by Federal and State administrative agen2 cies and officials, except that, if the Court determines that 

3 the record does not contain sufficient information, the 

4 Court may remand the proceeding to the Secretary for fur5 ther development of the consolidated record. 

6 (d) JUDICIAL REVIEW.— 

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

8 Appeals for the District of Columbia shall have 

9 original and exclusive jurisdiction over any civil ac10 tion for the review of— 

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

12 refinery authorization, by a Federal or State 

13 administrative agency or official; and 

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

15 or State administrative agency or official acting 

16 pursuant to a Federal refinery authorization. 

17 The failure of an agency or official to act on a Fed18 eral refinery authorization in accordance with the 

19 Secretary’s schedule established pursuant to sub20 section (b) shall be considered inconsistent with Fed21 eral law for the purposes of paragraph (2) of this 

22 subsection. 

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

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1 eral refinery authorization, or that a failure to act 

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

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

4 siting, construction, expansion, or operation of the 

5 designated refinery, the Court shall remand the pro6 ceeding to the agency or official to take appropriate 

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

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

9 the Federal or State administrative agency or offi10 cial, the Court shall set a reasonable schedule and 

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

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

13 brought under this subsection, the Secretary shall 

14 promptly file with the Court the consolidated record 

15 compiled by the Secretary pursuant to subsection 

16 (c). 

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

18 any civil action brought under this subsection for ex19 pedited consideration. 

20 (5) ATTORNEY’S FEES.—In any action chal21 lenging a Federal refinery authorization that has 

22 been granted, reasonable attorney’s fees and other 

23 expenses of litigation shall be awarded to the pre24 vailing party. This paragraph shall not apply to any 

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1 ery authorization or failure to act on an application 

2 for a Federal refinery authorization. 

Æ 


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