II

106TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION S. 2072

To require the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress on the readiness

of the heating oil and propane industries.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

FEBRUARY 10, 2000

Mr. KERRY (for himself, Mr. LAUTENBERG, Mr. LIEBERMAN, and Mr. JEFFORDS) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred

to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources

A BILL

To require the Secretary of Energy to report to Congress

on the readiness of the heating oil and propane industries.

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 ‘‘Home Heating Readi5 ness Act’’.

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

7 Congress finds that—

8 (1) in the United States, more than 10,000,000

9 households burn heating oil and more than

10 5,000,000 burn propane to generate space heat;
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1 (2) sharp and sustained increases in the price

2 of heating oil and propane disproportionately harm

3 poor and elderly people with low and fixed incomes,

4 who may be forced to choose between heat and food,

5 medicine, and other basic necessities;

6 (3) sharp and sustained increases in the price

7 of heating oil and propane can negatively affect the

8 national economy and regional economies, and such

9 increases have occurred in the winters of 1983–84,

10 1988–89, 1996–97, and 1999–2000;

11 (4) sharp and sustained increases in the price

12 of heating oil and propane can be caused by—

13 (A) deficiencies in global or regional crude

14 oil or refined product supplies;

15 (B) inadequacy or underutilization of refin16 ery capacity;

17 (C) inadequacy, underutilization, or disad18 vantageous distribution of regional refined

19 product storage capacity;

20 (D) adverse weather conditions;

21 (E) impediments to efficient and timely

22 transportation of refined product;

23 (F) market inefficiencies; and

24 (G) other factors affecting the functional

25 capability of the energy industry;
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1 (5) the Energy Information Administration is

2 charged with analyzing the United States energy in3 dustry and markets and providing projections on the

4 retail price of energy products, including heating oil

5 and propane;

6 (6) future sharp and sustained increases in the

7 national and regional price of heating oil and pro8 pane can be avoided or at least mitigated if—

9 (A) the Energy Information Administra10 tion identifies potential failures in the func11 tional capability of the energy industry to pro12 vide affordable heating oil and propane to con13 sumers in all regions of the United States; and

14 (B) those potential failures are remedied;

15 and

16 (7) avoiding sharp and sustained increases in

17 the national and regional price of heating oil and

18 propane can reduce Federal, State, and local ex19 penditures to assist low-income and other households

20 in need of financial assistance when prices increase.

21 SEC. 3. ANNUAL HOME HEATING READINESS REPORTS.

22 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part A of title I of the Energy

23 Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6211 et seq.) is

24 amended by adding at the end the following:
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1 ‘‘SEC. 108. ANNUAL HOME HEATING READINESS REPORTS.

2 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—On or before September 1 of

3 each year, Secretary, acting through the Administrator of

4 the Energy Information Agency, shall submit to Congress

5 a Home Heating Readiness Report on the readiness of the

6 heating oil and propane industries to supply fuel under

7 various weather conditions, including rapid decreases in

8 temperature.

9 ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—The Home Heating Readiness Re10 port shall include—

11 ‘‘(1) estimates of the consumption, expendi12 tures, and average price per gallon of heating oil and

13 propane for the upcoming period of October through

14 March for various weather conditions, with special

15 attention to extreme weather, and various regions of

16 the country;

17 ‘‘(2) an evaluation of—

18 ‘‘(A) global and regional crude oil and re19 fined product supplies;

20 ‘‘(B) the adequacy and utilization of refin21 ery capacity;

22 ‘‘(C) the adequacy, utilization, and dis23 tribution of regional refined product storage ca24 pacity;

25 ‘‘(D) weather conditions;
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1 ‘‘(E) the refined product transportation

2 system;

3 ‘‘(F) market inefficiencies; and

4 ‘‘(G) any other factor affecting the func5 tional capability of the heating oil industry and

6 propane industry that has the potential to af7 fect national or regional supplies and prices;

8 ‘‘(3) recommendations on steps that the Fed9 eral, State, and local governments can take to pre10 vent or alleviate the impact of sharp and sustained

11 increases in the price of heating oil and propane;

12 and

13 ‘‘(4) recommendations on steps that companies

14 engaged in the production, refining, storage, trans15 portation of heating oil or propane, or any other ac16 tivity related to the heating oil industry or propane

17 industry, can take to prevent or alleviate the impact

18 of sharp and sustained increases in the price of

19 heating oil and propane.

20 ‘‘(c) INFORMATION REQUESTS.—The Secretary may

21 request information necessary to prepare the Home Heat22 ing Readiness Report from companies described in sub23 section (b)(4).’’.

24 (b) CONFORMING AND TECHNICAL AMENDMENTS.—

25 The Energy Policy and Conservation Act is amended—
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1 (1) in the table of contents in the first section

2 (42 U.S.C. prec. 6201), by inserting after the item

3 relating to section 106 the following:

‘‘Sec. 107. Major fuel burning stationary source.

‘‘Sec. 108. Annual home heating readiness reports.’’; and

4 (2) in section 107 (42 U.S.C. 6215), by striking

5 ‘‘SEC. 107. (a) No Governor’’ and inserting the fol6 lowing:

7 ‘‘SEC. 107. MAJOR FUEL BURNING STATIONARY SOURCE.

8 ‘‘(a) No Governor’’.

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