I
106TH CONGRESS
2D SESSION
H. R. 3807
To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to ensure that petroleum
importers, refiners, and wholesalers accumulate minimally adequate sup-
plies of home heating oil to meet reasonably foreseeable needs in the
northeastern States.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH 1, 2000
Mr. MOAKLEY (for himself, Mr. TIERNEY, Mr. OLVER, Mr. MCGOVERN, Mr.
FRANK of Massachusetts, Mr. NEAL of Massachusetts, Mr. MEEHAN, Mr.
DELAHUNT, Mr. CAPUANO, Mr. WEYGAND, Mr. BALDACCI, and Mr.
GEJDENSON) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Commerce
A BILL
To amend the Energy Policy and Conservation Act to ensure
that petroleum importers, refiners, and wholesalers accu-
mulate minimally adequate supplies of home heating oil
to meet reasonably foreseeable needs in the northeastern
States.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stable Oil Supply
Home Heating Act’’.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS AND PURPOSE.
(a) FINDINGS.—Congress finds that—
(1) more than 35 percent of families in the
northeastern United States depend on oil to heat
their homes each winter, and most of those families
have no practical alternative to paying the going
price for home heating oil or seeking public or pri-
vate assistance to pay for home heating oil;
(2) consumers experienced sudden and dramatic
increases in prices for home heating oil during the
winters of 1989, 1996, and 1999, causing hardship
to families and other people of the United States, in-
cluding people on fixed and low incomes, people liv-
ing in rural areas, the elderly, farmers, truckers and
the driving public, and governments that pay home
heating oil bills;
(3) a substantial part of each sudden increase
in home heating oil prices has been caused by vastly
inadequate supplies of home heating oil accumulated
during the summer, fall, and winter months by im-
porters, refiners, and wholesalers; and
(4) increased stability in home heating oil prices
is necessary to maintain the economic vitality of the
Northeast.
(b) PURPOSE.—The purpose of this Act is to ensure
that minimally adequate stocks of home heating oil are
accumulated in the Northeast to meet reasonably foresee-
able demand during each winter while protecting con-
sumers from sudden increases in the price of home heating
oil.
SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS.
Section 152 of the Energy Policy and Conservation
Act (42 U.S.C. 6232) is amended—
(1) by redesignating paragraphs (2), (3), (4),
(5), (6), (7), (8), (9), (10), and (11) as paragraphs
(3), (4), (5), (8), (9), (10), (11), (12), (13), and
(14), respectively;
(2) by inserting after paragraph (1) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(2) HOME HEATING OIL.—
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘home heat-
ing oil’ means distillate fuel oil.
‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘home heat-
ing oil’ includes No. 1 and No. 2 diesel and fuel
oils.’’;
(3) by inserting after paragraph (5) (as redesig-
nated by paragraph (1) of this section) the fol-
lowing:
‘‘(6) 
NORTHEAST.—The 
term 
‘Northeast’
means the States of Maine, New Hampshire,
Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut,
New York, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.
‘‘(7) PRIMARY HEATING OIL INVENTORY.—
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—The term ‘primary
heating oil inventory’ means a heating oil inven-
tory held by an importer, refiner, or wholesaler.
‘‘(B) EXCLUSION.—The term ‘primary
heating oil inventory’ does not include any in-
ventory held by a retailer for the direct sale to
an end user of home heating oil.’’; and
(4) by adding at the end the following:
‘‘(15) WHOLESALER.—The term ‘wholesaler’
means any person that—
‘‘(A) owns, operates, leases, or otherwise
controls a bulk terminal having a total petro-
leum storage capacity of 50,000 barrels or
more;
‘‘(B) stores heating oil; and
‘‘(C)(i) resells petroleum products to retail
businesses that market the petroleum products
to end users; or
‘‘(ii) receives petroleum products by tank-
er, barge, or pipeline.
‘‘(16) WINTER SEASON.—The term ‘winter sea-
son’ means the months of November through
March.’’.
SEC. 4. HOME HEATING OIL RESERVE FOR THE NORTH-
EAST.
(a) AMENDMENT.—Part B of title I of the Energy
Policy and Conservation Act (15 U.S.C. 6231 et seq.) is
amended by inserting after section 157 the following:
‘‘SEC. 157A. VOLUNTARY PLANS FOR HOME HEATING OIL
RESERVE.
‘‘(a) DEVELOPMENT
AND SUBMISSION
OF VOL-
UNTARY PLANS.—Importers, refiners, and wholesalers
that hold primary heating oil inventories for sale to mar-
kets in the Northeast, acting individually or in 1 or more
groups, shall, for the purposes of ensuring stability in en-
ergy fuel markets and protecting consumers from dra-
matic swings in price—
‘‘(1) develop voluntary plans, in consultation
with interested individuals from nonprofit organiza-
tions and the public and private sectors, to maintain
readily available minimum product inventories of
home heating oil for sale in the Northeast, possibly
in combination with the hedging of future inven-
tories, to mitigate the risk of severe price increases
to consumers and to reduce adverse impacts on the
regional and national economies; and
‘‘(2) submit the voluntary plans to the Sec-
retary not later than 180 days after the date of en-
actment of this section.
‘‘(b) CERTIFICATION AND REPORT.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—If the Secretary determines
that a plan submitted under subsection (a)—
‘‘(A) is likely to achieve the purposes of
the Stable Oil Supply Home Heating Act, the
Secretary shall so certify, and the importer, re-
finer, or wholesaler shall implement the plan; or
‘‘(B) is not likely to achieve the purposes
of the Stable Oil Supply Home Heating Act,
the Secretary shall issue a statement explaining
why the plan does not appear likely to achieve
those purposes.
‘‘(2) REPORT.—Not later than 240 days after
the date of enactment of this section, the Secretary
shall submit to Congress a report describing the
findings and reasons for a certification or failure to
certify each plan submitted under subsection (a).
‘‘(c) DEFENSE TO ANTITRUST ACTIONS.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—There shall be available as
a defense to a civil or criminal action brought under
the antitrust laws (or any similar State law) with re-
spect to an action taken by an importer, refiner, or
wholesaler the fact that—
‘‘(A) the action is taken—
‘‘(i) in the course of developing a vol-
untary plan for submittal under subsection
(a); or
‘‘(ii) in the course of carrying out the
voluntary plan, if the voluntary plan is cer-
tified by the Secretary under subsection
(b)(1)(A), but only to the extent specified
in or within the reasonable contemplation
of the voluntary plan;
‘‘(B) the action is not taken for the pur-
pose of injuring competition; and
‘‘(C) the importer, refiner, or wholesaler is
in compliance with this section and section
157B.
‘‘(2) BURDEN OF PROOF.—A person asserting
the defense under paragraph (1) shall have the bur-
den of proof, except that the burden shall be on the
person against which the defense is asserted with re-
spect to whether an action is taken for the purpose
of injuring competition.
‘‘(d) APPLICABILITY.—The requirements of this sec-
tion and section 157B shall not apply to an importer or
refiner whose total petroleum storage capacity is less than
50,000 barrels.
‘‘(e) REPORT.—Not later than 1 year after the date
of enactment of this section, and annually thereafter, the
Secretary shall submit to Congress a report describing the
results of the implementation of all voluntary plans cer-
tified under this section, including specific compliance by
importers, refiners, and wholesalers that serve the North-
east market with respect to the adequacy of the home
heating oil supply.
‘‘SEC. 157B. HOME HEATING OIL RESERVE FOR THE NORTH-
EAST.
‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT OF PRIVATE HOME HEATING
OIL RESERVES.—If, after the expiration of 240 days after
the date of enactment of this section, a certified plan de-
scribed in section 157A has not been implemented in ac-
cordance with that section for an importer, refiner, or
wholesaler that stores heating oil for sale in the Northeast,
not later than 300 days after the date of enactment of
this section, the Secretary shall issue an order requiring
the establishment of a private home heating oil reserve for
the Northeast in accordance with this section.
‘‘(b) INVENTORY.—
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), the Secretary shall periodically monitor
supply levels as necessary to ensure that each im-
porter, refiner, and wholesaler of heating oil for sale
in the Northeast shall have in inventory and readily
available to retailers or consumers in the Northeast
a quantity of home heating oil that the Secretary de-
termines is equal to the quantity that each importer,
refiner, or wholesaler may reasonably be expected to
require to supply the needs of its customers during
the present or following winter season without sub-
jecting consumers to sudden price increases that are
due in part to inadequate buildup of heating oil in-
ventories.
‘‘(2) INCREASED INVENTORY.—If the Secretary
determines under paragraph (1) that an inventory of
home heating oil is insufficient, the Secretary shall
direct an importer, refiner, or wholesaler to acquire,
store, and maintain in readily available inventories
any quantity of home heating oil that the Secretary
determines to be necessary to supply home heating
oil needs in the Northeast without subjecting con-
sumers to sudden price increases that are due in
part to inadequate buildup of heating oil inventories.
‘‘(3) LIMITATION.—The Secretary shall not re-
quire any importer, refiner, or wholesaler to store
any product under this subsection in a quantity
greater than 95 percent of the average storage ca-
pacity for heating oil reasonably available to the im-
porter, refiner, or wholesaler during the preceding 2
years.
‘‘(4) REGULATIONS.—As soon as practicable
after the date of enactment of this section, the Sec-
retary shall promulgate regulations necessary to
carry out this section, including regulations that—
‘‘(A) establish civil penalties to enforce this
section; and
‘‘(B) provide that the Secretary shall co-
operate with State energy authorities in car-
rying out this section.
‘‘(c) EXCESS INVENTORY.—At the end of each winter
season, the Administrator of the Environmental Protec-
tion Agency shall take appropriate and reasonable action
to enable importers, refiners, and wholesalers of home
heating oil to sell any remaining excess inventories of
home heating oil that the importers, refiners, and whole-
salers may have.
‘‘(d) IMPLEMENTATION.—In implementing this sec-
tion, the Secretary shall ensure, to the maximum extent
practicable, that the manner of implementation supports
the maintenance of an economically sound and competitive
petroleum industry.
‘‘(e) REPORT.—Not later than 22 months after the
date of enactment of this section, the Secretary shall sub-
mit to Congress a report describing the results of the im-
plementation of this section and section 157A, including
specific compliance by importers, refiners, and wholesalers
subject to the requirements of this section and section
157A with respect to home heating oil supply buildup.’’.
(b) TABLE OF CONTENTS AMENDMENT.—The table
of contents of the Energy Policy and Conservation Act is
amended by inserting after the item relating to section
157 the following items:
‘‘Sec. 157A. Voluntary plans for home heating oil reserve.
‘‘Sec. 157B. Home heating oil reserve for the Northeast.’’.
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