production, with industry average utilization rates of 
95 percent of capacity or higher. 
(4) It serves the national interest to increase 
refinery capacity for gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, 
and jet fuel wherever located within the United 
States, to bring more reliable and economic supply 
to the American people. 
(5) According to economic analysis, households 
are conservatively estimated to spend an average of 
$1,948 this year on gasoline, up 45 percent from 3 
years ago, and households with incomes under 
$15,000 (1⁄5 of all households) this year will spend, 
on average, more than 1⁄10 of their income just on 
gasoline. 
(6) According to economic analysis, rural Amer-
ican households will spend $2,087 on gasoline this 
year. Rural Americans are paying an estimated 22 
percent more for gasoline than their urban counter-
parts because they must drive longer distances. 
(7) A growing reliance on foreign sources of re-
fined petroleum products impairs our national secu-
rity interests and global competitiveness. 
(8) Refiners are subject to significant environ-
mental and other regulations and face several new 
Clean Air Act requirements over the next decade.
New Clean Air Act requirements will benefit the en-
vironment but will also require substantial capital 
investment and additional government permits. 
These new requirements increase business uncer-
tainty and dissuade investment in new refinery ca-
pacity. 
(9) There is currently a lack of coordination in 
permitting requirements and other regulations af-
fecting refineries at the Federal, State, and local lev-
els. There is no consistent national permitting pro-
gram for refineries, compared with the Federal En-
ergy Regulatory Commission’s lead agency role over 
interstate natural gas pipelines, liquefied natural 
gas, and hydroelectric power and the Nuclear Regu-
latory Commission’s role over nuclear plant licens-
ing. More regulatory certainty and coordination is 
needed for refinery owners to stimulate investment 
in increased refinery capacity. 
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Administrator’’ means the Ad-
ministrator of the Environmental Protection Agency; 
(2) the term ‘‘refinery’’ means—
(A) a facility designed and operated to re-
ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process,
and refine crude oil by any chemical or physical 
process, including distillation, fluid catalytic 
cracking, hydrocracking, coking, alkylation, 
etherification, polymerization, catalytic reform-
ing, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending, and 
any combination thereof, in order to produce 
gasoline or other fuel; or 
(B) a facility designed and operated to re-
ceive, load, unload, store, transport, process, 
and refine coal by any chemical or physical 
process, including liquefaction, in order to 
produce gasoline, diesel, or other liquid fuel as 
its primary output; and 
(3) the term ‘‘Secretary’’ means the Secretary 
of Energy. 
TITLE I—INCREASING REFINERY 
CAPACITY 
SEC. 101. STATE PARTICIPATION AND PRESIDENTIAL DES-
IGNATION. 
(a) FEDERAL-STATE REGULATORY COORDINATION 
AND ASSISTANCE.—
(1) GOVERNOR’S REQUEST.—The governor of a 
State may submit a request to the Secretary for the 
application of process coordination and rules of pro-