108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4517

AN ACT

To provide incentives to increase refinery capacity

in the United States.

108TH CONGRESS

2D SESSION H. R. 4517

AN ACT

To provide incentives to increase refinery capacity in the

United States.

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 ‘‘United States Refinery

3 Revitalization Act of 2004’’.

4 SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

5 The Congress finds the following:

6 (1) It serves the national interest to increase

7 refinery capacity for gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel,

8 and jet fuel wherever located within the United

9 States, to bring more supply to the markets for use

10 by the American people. Forty-eight percent of the

11 crude oil in the United States is used for the pro12 duction of gasoline. Production and use of refined

13 petroleum products has a significant impact on

14 interstate commerce.

15 (2) United States demand for refined petroleum

16 products, such as gasoline and heating oil, currently

17 exceeds our domestic capacity to produce them. By

18 2025, United States gasoline consumption is pro19 jected to rise from 8,900,000 barrels per day to

20 13,300,000 barrels per day. Diesel fuel and home

21 heating oil are becoming larger components of an in22 creasing demand for refined petroleum supply. With

23 the increase in air travel, jet fuel consumption is

24 projected to be 760,000 barrels per day higher in

25 2025 than today.
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1 (3) The refinery industry is operating at nearly

2 100 percent of capacity during the peak gasoline

3 consumption season and is producing record levels of

4 needed products at other times. The excess demand

5 has recently been met by increased imports. The

6 United States currently is importing 7 percent of its

7 refined petroleum products but few foreign refiners

8 can produce the clean fuels required in the United

9 States.

10 (4) Refiners are subject to significant environ11 mental and other regulations and face several new

12 Clean Air Act requirements over the next decade.

13 Today 153 refineries operate in the United States,

14 down from 324 in 1981. Almost 25 percent of our

15 Nation’s refining capacity is controlled by foreign

16 ownership. Easily restored capacity at idled refin17 eries amounted to 539,000 barrels a day in 2002, or

18 3.3 percent of the total operating capacity. No new

19 refineries have been built in the United States since

20 1976. Most refineries are located on century-old

21 sites. New Clean Air Act requirements will benefit

22 the environment but will also require substantial

23 capital investment and additional government per24 mits.
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1 (5) Refiners have met growing demand by in2 creasing the use of existing equipment and increas3 ing the efficiency and capacity of existing plants.

4 But refining capacity has begun to lag behind peak

5 summer demand.

6 (6) Heavy industry and manufacturing jobs

7 have closed or relocated due to barriers to invest8 ment, burdensome regulation, and high costs of op9 eration, among other reasons.

10 (7) More regulatory certainty for refinery own11 ers is needed to stimulate investment in increased

12 refinery capacity.

13 (8) Required procedures for Federal, State, and

14 local regulatory approvals need to be streamlined to

15 ensure that increased refinery capacity can be devel16 oped and operated in a safe, timely, and cost-effec17 tive manner.

18 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF REFINERY REVITALIZATION

19 ZONES.

20 The Secretary of Energy shall designate as a Refin21 ery Revitalization Zone any area—

22 (1) that—

23 (A) has experienced mass layoffs at manu24 facturing facilities, as determined by the Sec25 retary of Labor; or
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1 (B) contains an idle refinery; and

2 (2) that has an unemployment rate of at least

3 20 percent above the national average, as set forth

4 by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Sta5 tistics, at the time of designation as a Refinery Revi6 talization Zone.

7 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH ALL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULA8 TIONS REQUIRED.

9 The best available control technology, as appropriate,

10 shall be employed on all refineries located within a Refin11 ery Revitalization Zone to comply with all applicable Fed12 eral, State, and local environmental regulations. Nothing

13 in this Act shall be construed to waive or diminish in any

14 manner the applicability to any refinery facility located

15 within a Refinery Revitalization Zone existing or future

16 environmental regulations.

17 SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND EXPEDITIOUS REVIEW OF PER18 MITTING PROCESS.

19 (a) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY LEAD AGENCY.—

20 Upon request of an applicant for a Federal authorization

21 related to the siting and operation of a refinery facility

22 within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, the Department of

23 Energy shall be the lead agency for coordinating all appli24 cable Federal authorizations and related environmental re25 views of the facility. To the maximum extent practicable
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1 under applicable Federal law, the Secretary of Energy

2 shall coordinate this Federal authorization and review

3 process with any Indian Tribes and State and local agen4 cies responsible for conducting any separate permitting

5 and environmental reviews of the facility, to ensure timely

6 and efficient review and approval of any permit decisions.

7 (b) AUTHORITY TO SET DEADLINES.—As lead agen8 cy, the Department of Energy, in consultation with agen9 cies responsible for Federal authorizations and, as appro10 priate, with Indian Tribes and State or local agencies will11 ing to coordinate their own separate permitting and envi12 ronmental reviews with the Federal authorization and en13 vironmental reviews, shall establish prompt and binding

14 intermediate and ultimate deadlines for the review of, and

15 Federal authorization decisions relating to, the refinery fa16 cility. The Secretary of Energy shall ensure that once an

17 application has been submitted with such data as the Sec18 retary considers necessary, all permit decisions and related

19 environmental reviews under all applicable Federal laws

20 shall be completed within 6 months or, where cir21 cumstances require otherwise, as soon thereafter as is

22 practicable. The Secretary of Energy also shall provide an

23 expeditious preapplication mechanism for prospective ap24 plicants to confer with the agencies involved to have each

25 such agency determine and communicate to the prospec-
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1 tive applicant within 60 days after the prospective appli2 cant submits a request for the information concerning—

3 (1) the likelihood of approval for a potential fa4 cility; and

5 (2) key issues of concern to the agencies and

6 public.

7 (c) CONSOLIDATED ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND

8 RECORD OF DECISION.—As lead agency, the Department

9 of Energy, in consultation with the affected agencies, shall

10 prepare a single environmental review document, which

11 shall be used as the basis for all decisions on the proposed

12 project under Federal law. The document may be an envi13 ronmental assessment or environmental impact statement

14 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 if

15 warranted, or such other form of analysis as may be war16 ranted, in the discretion of the Secretary. Such document

17 shall include consideration by the relevant agencies of any

18 applicable criteria or other matters as required under ap19 plicable laws.

20 (d) APPEALS.—In the event any agency has denied

21 a Federal authorization required for a refinery facility

22 within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, or has failed to act

23 by the deadline established by the Secretary pursuant to

24 this section for deciding whether to issue the authoriza25 tion, the applicant or any State in which the facility would
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1 be located may file an appeal with the Secretary. Based

2 on the overall record and in consultation with the affected

3 agency, the Secretary may then either issue the necessary

4 authorization with appropriate conditions, or deny the ap5 plication. The Secretary shall issue a decision within 60

6 days after the filing of the appeal. In making a decision

7 under this subsection, the Secretary shall comply with ap8 plicable requirements of Federal law, including any re9 quirements of the Clean Air Act, the Federal Water Pollu10 tion Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Com11 prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and

12 Liability Act of 1980, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the

13 Toxic Substances Control Act, the National Historic Pres14 ervation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act

15 of 1969. Any judicial appeal of the Secretary’s decision

16 shall be to the United States Court of Appeals for the

17 District of Columbia.

18 (e) CONFORMING REGULATIONS AND MEMORANDA

19 OF UNDERSTANDING.—Not later than 6 months after the

20 date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy

21 shall issue any regulations necessary to implement this

22 section. Not later than 6 months after the date of enact23 ment of this Act, the Secretary and the heads of all Fed24 eral agencies with authority to issue Federal authoriza25 tions shall enter into Memoranda of Understanding to en-
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1 sure the timely and coordinated review and permitting of

2 refinery facilities within a Refinery Revitalization Zone.

3 The head of each Federal agency with authority to issue

4 a Federal authorization shall designate a senior official re5 sponsible for, and dedicate sufficient other staff and re6 sources to ensure, full implementation of the Department

7 of Energy regulations and any Memoranda under this sub8 section. Interested Indian Tribes and State and local agen9 cies may enter such Memoranda of Understanding.

10 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS.

11 For purposes of this Act—

12 (1) the term ‘‘Federal authorization’’ means

13 any authorization required under Federal law (in14 cluding the Clean Air Act, the Federal Water Pollu15 tion Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the

16 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa17 tion, and Liability Act of 1980, the Solid Waste Dis18 posal Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the

19 National Historic Preservation Act, and the Na20 tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969) in order to

21 site, construct, upgrade, or operate a refinery facility

22 within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, including such

23 permits, special use authorizations, certifications,

24 opinions, or other approvals as may be required,

25 whether issued by a Federal, State or local agency;
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1 (2) the term ‘‘idle refinery’’ means any intact

2 refinery facility that has not been in operation after

3 June 1, 2004; and

4 (3) the term ‘‘refinery facility’’ means any facil5 ity designed and operated to refine raw crude oil

6 into gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, or jet fuel by

7 any chemical or physical process, including distilla8 tion, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, coking,

9 alkylation, etherification, polymerization, catalytic

10 reforming, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending,

11 and any combination thereof.

Passed the House of Representatives June 16, 2004.

Attest:

Clerk.