II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1064 

To require the Secretary of Energy to conduct a study on the national 

security implications of building ethane and other natural-gas-liquidsrelated petrochemical infrastructure in the United States, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

APRIL 8, 2019 

Mr. MANCHIN 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 conduct a study on 

the national security implications of building ethane and 

other natural-gas-liquids-related petrochemical infrastructure 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. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Appalachian Energy 

5 for National Security Act’’. 

6 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

7 Congress finds that— 


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1 (1) the Energy Information Administration 

2 projects that— 

3 (A) domestic natural gas production from 

4 shale resources will more than double between 

5 2017 and 2050; and 

6 (B) continued development of the 

7 Marcellus and Utica shale plays in the eastern 

8 United States is the main driver of growth in 

9 total domestic natural gas production across 

10 most scenarios; 

11 (2) the Department of Energy has found that— 

12 (A) the shale resource endowment of the 

13 Appalachian Basin is so bountiful that, if the 

14 Appalachian Basin were an independent coun15 try, the Appalachian Basin would be the third 

16 largest producer of natural gas in the world; 

17 (B) with more than $300,000,000,000 of 

18 net revenue, 900,000 workers, and 7,500 estab19 lishments, Appalachia and surrounding areas 

20 account for nearly a third of United States ac21 tivities in 13 petrochemical industries; and 

22 (C) the aggregate revenue growth from 

23 commodity chemicals that can be derived from 

24 ethane (commonly known as the ‘‘value chain’’) 


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1 is projected to be $716,000,000,000 between 

2 2018 and 2040; 

3 (3) geographical diversity and structural resil4 ience is critical, given that the Department of En5 ergy has found that— 

6 (A) 95 percent of ethylene production ca7 pacity in the United States currently exists in 

8 the States of Louisiana and Texas; 

9 (B) this concentration of assets and oper10 ations may pose a strategic risk to the economy 

11 of the United States as extreme weather events 

12 impacting the production of petrochemicals (in13 cluding plastic resin) on the Gulf Coast can 

14 limit the availability of feedstocks to manufac15 turers across the United States; and 

16 (C) in August 2017, many Gulf Coast re17 fineries and petrochemical facilities shut down, 

18 which affected 54 percent of United States 

19 ethylene production and 36 percent of United 

20 States ethylene consumption capacity; 

21 (4) there are economic efficiencies and economic 

22 security benefits to maintaining all elements of the 

23 value chain for ethane and other natural gas liquids 

24 in clusters in various geographical regions, provided 

25 each cluster includes natural gas production, natural 


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1 gas processing plants, natural gas liquids fraction2 ation plants, natural gas liquids transportation in3 frastructure, natural gas liquids storage, and ethane 

4 and other natural gas liquids petrochemical infra5 structure; 

6 (5) there are economic efficiencies to building 

7 ethane and other natural-gas-liquids-related petro8 chemical infrastructure, including storage and dis9 tribution systems, within the Appalachian region, be10 cause of the close proximity of the region to the in11 dustrial Midwest and manufacturers in the Eastern 

12 United States that use petrochemicals, such as plas13 tic resins, as manufacturing inputs; and 

14 (6) it is a priority of the United States to mini15 mize effects of volatility in any individual market by 

16 maintaining— 

17 (A) a robust domestic natural gas liquids 

18 resource base; 

19 (B) the requisite physical assets along the 

20 value chain for ethane and other natural gas 

21 liquids; and 

22 (C) diversity in customers, both domesti23 cally and internationally. 


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1 SEC. 3. STUDY AND REPORTS ON BUILDING ETHANE AND 

2 OTHER NATURAL-GAS-LIQUIDS-RELATED PE3 TROCHEMICAL INFRASTRUCTURE. 

4 (a) STUDY.— 

5 (1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 1 year after 

6 the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of 

7 Energy (referred to in this section as the ‘‘Sec8 retary’’), in consultation with the Secretary of De9 fense, the Secretary of the Treasury, and the heads 

10 of other relevant Federal departments and agencies 

11 and stakeholders, shall conduct a study assessing the 

12 potential national economic security impacts of 

13 building ethane and other natural-gas-liquids-related 

14 petrochemical infrastructure in the geographical vi15 cinity of the Marcellus, Utica, and Rogersville shale 

16 plays in the United States. 

17 (2) CONTENTS.—The study conducted under 

18 paragraph (1) shall include— 

19 (A) the identification of potential benefits 

20 of the proposed infrastructure to national and 

21 economic security, including the identification 

22 of potential risks to national and economic se23 curity of significant foreign ownership and con24 trol of United States domestic petrochemical re25 sources; and 


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1 (B) an examination of, with respect to the 

2 proposed infrastructure— 

3 (i) types of additional infrastructure 

4 needed to fully optimize the potential na5 tional security benefits; 

6 (ii) whether geopolitical diversity in 

7 areas to which the ethane and other nat8 ural gas liquids will be exported from the 

9 producing region would undermine or bol10 ster national security; 

11 (iii) the necessity of evaluating the 

12 public interest with respect to exports of 

13 ethane, propane, butane, and other natural 

14 gas liquids, to ensure the potential stra15 tegic national and economic security bene16 fits are preserved within the United States; 

17 and 

18 (iv) the potential benefits, with re19 spect to significant weather impacts, com20 pared to other regions, of locating the pro21 posed infrastructure in the geographical vi22 cinity of the Marcellus, Utica, and 

23 Rogersville shale plays. 

24 (b) REPORTS.— 


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1 (1) STATUS REPORTS.—Prior to completion of 

2 the study under subsection (a), the Committees on 

3 Energy and Natural Resources and Armed Services 

4 of the Senate and the Committees on Energy and 

5 Commerce and Armed Services of the House of Rep6 resentatives, from time to time, may request and re7 ceive from the Secretary status reports with respect 

8 to the study, including any findings. 

9 (2) SUBMISSION AND PUBLICATION OF RE10 PORT.—On completion of the study under subsection 

11 (a), the Secretary shall— 

12 (A) submit to the Committees on Energy 

13 and Natural Resources and Armed Services of 

14 the Senate and the Committees on Energy and 

15 Commerce and Armed Services of the House of 

16 Representatives a report describing the results 

17 of the study; and 

18 (B) publish the report on the website of 

19 the Department of Energy. 

Æ 


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