I 

108TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 4517

To provide incentives to increase refinery capacity in the United States. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 4, 2004

Mr. BARTON of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 

Committee on Energy and Commerce 

A BILL

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,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘United States Refinery 

5 Revitalization Act of 2004’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 The Congress finds the following: 

8 (1) It serves the national interest to increase 

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

10 and jet fuel wherever located within the United 

11 States, to bring more supply to the markets for use 
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1 by the American people. Forty-eight percent of the 

2 crude oil in the United States is used for the pro3 duction of gasoline. Production and use of refined 

4 petroleum products has a significant impact on 

5 interstate commerce. 

6 (2) United States demand for refined petroleum 

7 products, such as gasoline and heating oil, currently 

8 exceeds our domestic capacity to produce them. By 

9 2025, United States gasoline consumption is pro10 jected to rise from 8,900,000 barrels per day to 

11 13,300,000 barrels per day. Diesel fuel and home 

12 heating oil are becoming larger components of an in13 creasing demand for refined petroleum supply. With 

14 the increase in air travel, jet fuel consumption is 

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

16 2025 than today. 

17 (3) The refinery industry is operating at nearly 

18 100 percent of capacity during the peak gasoline 

19 consumption season and is producing record levels of 

20 needed products at other times. The excess demand 

21 has recently been met by increased imports. The 

22 United States currently is importing 7 percent of its 

23 refined petroleum products but few foreign refiners 

24 can produce the clean fuels required in the United 

25 States. 
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1 (4) Refiners are subject to significant environ2 mental and other regulations and face several new 

3 Clean Air Act requirements over the next decade. 

4 Today 153 refineries operate in the United States, 

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

6 Nation’s refining capacity is controlled by foreign 

7 ownership. Easily restored capacity at idled refin8 eries amounted to 539,000 barrels a day in 2002, or 

9 3.3 percent of the total operating capacity. No new 

10 refineries have been built in the United States since 

11 1976. Most refineries are located on century-old 

12 sites. New Clean Air Act requirements will benefit 

13 the environment but will also require substantial 

14 capital investment and additional government per15 mits. 

16 (5) Refiners have met growing demand by in17 creasing the use of existing equipment and increas18 ing the efficiency and capacity of existing plants. 

19 But refining capacity has begun to lag behind peak 

20 summer demand. 

21 (6) Heavy industry and manufacturing jobs 

22 have closed or relocated due to barriers to invest23 ment, burdensome regulation, and high costs of op24 eration, among other reasons. 
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1 (7) More regulatory certainty for refinery own2 ers is needed to stimulate investment in increased 

3 refinery capacity. 

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

5 local regulatory approvals need to be streamlined to 

6 ensure that increased refinery capacity can be devel7 oped and operated in a safe, timely, and cost-effec8 tive manner. 

9 SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF REFINERY REVITALIZATION 

10 ZONES. 

11 The Secretary of Energy shall designate as a Refin12 ery Revitalization Zone any area—

13 (1) that—

14 (A) has experienced mass layoffs at manu15 facturing facilities, as determined by the Sec16 retary of Labor; or 

17 (B) contains an idle refinery; and 

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

19 20 percent above the national average, as set forth 

20 by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Sta21 tistics, at the time of designation as a Refinery Revi22 talization Zone. 
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1 SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH ALL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULA2 TIONS REQUIRED. 

3 The best available control technology, as appropriate, 

4 shall be employed on all refineries located within a Refin5 ery Revitalization Zone to comply with all applicable Fed6 eral, State, and local environmental regulations. Nothing 

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

8 manner the applicability to any refinery facility located 

9 within a Refinery Revitalization Zone existing or future 

10 environmental regulations. 

11 SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND EXPEDITIOUS REVIEW OF PER12 MITTING PROCESS. 

13 (a) DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY LEAD AGENCY.—

14 Upon request of an applicant for a Federal authorization 

15 related to the siting and operation of a refinery facility 

16 within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, the Department of 

17 Energy shall be the lead agency for coordinating all appli18 cable Federal authorizations and related environmental re19 views of the facility. To the maximum extent practicable 

20 under applicable Federal law, the Secretary of Energy 

21 shall coordinate this Federal authorization and review 

22 process with any Indian Tribes and State and local agen23 cies responsible for conducting any separate permitting 

24 and environmental reviews of the facility, to ensure timely 

25 and efficient review and approval of any permit decisions. 
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1 (b) AUTHORITY TO SET DEADLINES.—As lead agen2 cy, the Department of Energy, in consultation with agen3 cies responsible for Federal authorizations and, as appro4 priate, with Indian Tribes and State or local agencies will5 ing to coordinate their own separate permitting and envi6 ronmental reviews with the Federal authorization and en7 vironmental reviews, shall establish prompt and binding 

8 intermediate and ultimate deadlines for the review of, and 

9 Federal authorization decisions relating to, the refinery fa10 cility. The Secretary of Energy shall ensure that once an 

11 application has been submitted with such data as the Sec12 retary considers necessary, all permit decisions and related 

13 environmental reviews under all applicable Federal laws 

14 shall be completed within 6 months or, where cir15 cumstances require otherwise, as soon thereafter as is 

16 practicable. The Secretary of Energy also shall provide an 

17 expeditious preapplication mechanism for prospective ap18 plicants to confer with the agencies involved to have each 

19 such agency determine and communicate to the prospec20 tive applicant within 60 days after the prospective appli21 cant submits a request for the information concerning—

22 (1) the likelihood of approval for a potential fa23 cility; and 

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

25 public. 
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1 (c) CONSOLIDATED ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND

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

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

4 prepare a single environmental review document, which 

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

6 project under Federal law. The document may be an envi7 ronmental assessment or environmental impact statement 

8 under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 if 

9 warranted, or such other form of analysis as may be war10 ranted, in the discretion of the Secretary. Such document 

11 shall include consideration by the relevant agencies of any 

12 applicable criteria or other matters as required under ap13 plicable laws. 

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

15 a Federal authorization required for a refinery facility 

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

17 by the deadline established by the Secretary pursuant to 

18 this section for deciding whether to issue the authoriza19 tion, the applicant or any State in which the facility would 

20 be located may file an appeal with the Secretary. Based 

21 on the overall record and in consultation with the affected 

22 agency, the Secretary may then either issue the necessary 

23 authorization with appropriate conditions, or deny the ap24 plication. The Secretary shall issue a decision within 60 

25 days after the filing of the appeal. In making a decision 
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1 under this subsection, the Secretary shall comply with ap2 plicable requirements of Federal law, including any re3 quirements of the Clean Air Act, the Federal Water Pollu4 tion Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Com5 prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 

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

7 Toxic Substances Control Act, the National Historic Pres8 ervation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act 

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

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

11 District of Columbia. 

12 (e) CONFORMING REGULATIONS AND MEMORANDA

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

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

15 shall issue any regulations necessary to implement this 

16 section. Not later than 6 months after the date of enact17 ment of this Act, the Secretary and the heads of all Fed18 eral agencies with authority to issue Federal authoriza19 tions shall enter into Memoranda of Understanding to en20 sure the timely and coordinated review and permitting of 

21 refinery facilities within a Refinery Revitalization Zone. 

22 The head of each Federal agency with authority to issue 

23 a Federal authorization shall designate a senior official re24 sponsible for, and dedicate sufficient other staff and re25 sources to ensure, full implementation of the Department 
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1 of Energy regulations and any Memoranda under this sub2 section. Interested Indian Tribes and State and local agen3 cies may enter such Memoranda of Understanding. 

4 SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 

5 For purposes of this Act—

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

7 any authorization required under Federal law (in8 cluding the Clean Air Act, the Federal Water Pollu9 tion Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the 

10 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa11 tion, and Liability Act of 1980, the Solid Waste Dis12 posal Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the 

13 National Historic Preservation Act, and the Na14 tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969) in order to 

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

16 within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, including such 

17 permits, special use authorizations, certifications, 

18 opinions, or other approvals as may be required, 

19 whether issued by a Federal, State or local agency; 

20 (2) the term ‘‘idle refinery’’ means any intact 

21 refinery facility that has not been in operation after 

22 June 1, 2004; and 

23 (3) the term ‘‘refinery facility’’ means any facil24 ity designed and operated to refine raw crude oil 

25 into gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, or jet fuel by 
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1 any chemical or physical process, including distilla2 tion, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, coking, 

3 alkylation, etherification, polymerization, catalytic 

4 reforming, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending, 

5 and any combination thereof.

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