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.
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 ‘‘United States Refinery 
Revitalization Act of 2004’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
The Congress finds the following: 
(1) 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 supply to the markets for use
by the American people. Forty-eight percent of the 
crude oil in the United States is used for the pro-
duction of gasoline. Production and use of refined 
petroleum products has a significant impact on 
interstate commerce. 
(2) United States demand for refined petroleum 
products, such as gasoline and heating oil, currently 
exceeds our domestic capacity to produce them. By 
2025, United States gasoline consumption is pro-
jected to rise from 8,900,000 barrels per day to 
13,300,000 barrels per day. Diesel fuel and home 
heating oil are becoming larger components of an in-
creasing demand for refined petroleum supply. With 
the increase in air travel, jet fuel consumption is 
projected to be 760,000 barrels per day higher in 
2025 than today. 
(3) The refinery industry is operating at nearly 
100 percent of capacity during the peak gasoline 
consumption season and is producing record levels of 
needed products at other times. The excess demand 
has recently been met by increased imports. The 
United States currently is importing 7 percent of its 
refined petroleum products but few foreign refiners 
can produce the clean fuels required in the United 
States.
(4) Refiners are subject to significant environ-
mental and other regulations and face several new 
Clean Air Act requirements over the next decade. 
Today 153 refineries operate in the United States, 
down from 324 in 1981. Almost 25 percent of our 
Nation’s refining capacity is controlled by foreign 
ownership. Easily restored capacity at idled refin-
eries amounted to 539,000 barrels a day in 2002, or 
3.3 percent of the total operating capacity. No new 
refineries have been built in the United States since 
1976. Most refineries are located on century-old 
sites. New Clean Air Act requirements will benefit 
the environment but will also require substantial 
capital investment and additional government per-
mits. 
(5) Refiners have met growing demand by in-
creasing the use of existing equipment and increas-
ing the efficiency and capacity of existing plants. 
But refining capacity has begun to lag behind peak 
summer demand. 
(6) Heavy industry and manufacturing jobs 
have closed or relocated due to barriers to invest-
ment, burdensome regulation, and high costs of op-
eration, among other reasons.
(7) More regulatory certainty for refinery own-
ers is needed to stimulate investment in increased 
refinery capacity. 
(8) Required procedures for Federal, State, and 
local regulatory approvals need to be streamlined to 
ensure that increased refinery capacity can be devel-
oped and operated in a safe, timely, and cost-effec-
tive manner. 
SEC. 3. DESIGNATION OF REFINERY REVITALIZATION 
ZONES. 
The Secretary of Energy shall designate as a Refin-
ery Revitalization Zone any area—
(1) that—
(A) has experienced mass layoffs at manu-
facturing facilities, as determined by the Sec-
retary of Labor; or 
(B) contains an idle refinery; and 
(2) that has an unemployment rate of at least 
20 percent above the national average, as set forth 
by the Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Sta-
tistics, at the time of designation as a Refinery Revi-
talization Zone.
SEC. 4. COMPLIANCE WITH ALL ENVIRONMENTAL REGULA-
TIONS REQUIRED. 
The best available control technology, as appropriate, 
shall be employed on all refineries located within a Refin-
ery Revitalization Zone to comply with all applicable Fed-
eral, State, and local environmental regulations. Nothing 
in this Act shall be construed to waive or diminish in any 
manner the applicability to any refinery facility located 
within a Refinery Revitalization Zone existing or future 
environmental regulations. 
SEC. 5. COORDINATION AND EXPEDITIOUS REVIEW OF PER-
MITTING PROCESS. 
(a) DEPARTMENT
OF ENERGY LEAD AGENCY.—
Upon request of an applicant for a Federal authorization 
related to the siting and operation of a refinery facility 
within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, the Department of 
Energy shall be the lead agency for coordinating all appli-
cable Federal authorizations and related environmental re-
views of the facility. To the maximum extent practicable 
under applicable Federal law, the Secretary of Energy 
shall coordinate this Federal authorization and review 
process with any Indian Tribes and State and local agen-
cies responsible for conducting any separate permitting 
and environmental reviews of the facility, to ensure timely 
and efficient review and approval of any permit decisions.
(b) AUTHORITY TO SET DEADLINES.—As lead agen-
cy, the Department of Energy, in consultation with agen-
cies responsible for Federal authorizations and, as appro-
priate, with Indian Tribes and State or local agencies will-
ing to coordinate their own separate permitting and envi-
ronmental reviews with the Federal authorization and en-
vironmental reviews, shall establish prompt and binding 
intermediate and ultimate deadlines for the review of, and 
Federal authorization decisions relating to, the refinery fa-
cility. The Secretary of Energy shall ensure that once an 
application has been submitted with such data as the Sec-
retary considers necessary, all permit decisions and related 
environmental reviews under all applicable Federal laws 
shall be completed within 6 months or, where cir-
cumstances require otherwise, as soon thereafter as is 
practicable. The Secretary of Energy also shall provide an 
expeditious preapplication mechanism for prospective ap-
plicants to confer with the agencies involved to have each 
such agency determine and communicate to the prospec-
tive applicant within 60 days after the prospective appli-
cant submits a request for the information concerning—
(1) the likelihood of approval for a potential fa-
cility; and 
(2) key issues of concern to the agencies and 
public.
(c) CONSOLIDATED ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW AND 
RECORD OF DECISION.—As lead agency, the Department 
of Energy, in consultation with the affected agencies, shall 
prepare a single environmental review document, which 
shall be used as the basis for all decisions on the proposed 
project under Federal law. The document may be an envi-
ronmental assessment or environmental impact statement 
under the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 if 
warranted, or such other form of analysis as may be war-
ranted, in the discretion of the Secretary. Such document 
shall include consideration by the relevant agencies of any 
applicable criteria or other matters as required under ap-
plicable laws. 
(d) APPEALS.—In the event any agency has denied 
a Federal authorization required for a refinery facility 
within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, or has failed to act 
by the deadline established by the Secretary pursuant to 
this section for deciding whether to issue the authoriza-
tion, the applicant or any State in which the facility would 
be located may file an appeal with the Secretary. Based 
on the overall record and in consultation with the affected 
agency, the Secretary may then either issue the necessary 
authorization with appropriate conditions, or deny the ap-
plication. The Secretary shall issue a decision within 60 
days after the filing of the appeal. In making a decision
under this subsection, the Secretary shall comply with ap-
plicable requirements of Federal law, including any re-
quirements of the Clean Air Act, the Federal Water Pollu-
tion Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Com-
prehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act of 1980, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the 
Toxic Substances Control Act, the National Historic Pres-
ervation Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act 
of 1969. Any judicial appeal of the Secretary’s decision 
shall be to the United States Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia. 
(e) CONFORMING REGULATIONS AND MEMORANDA 
OF UNDERSTANDING.—Not later than 6 months after the 
date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Energy 
shall issue any regulations necessary to implement this 
section. Not later than 6 months after the date of enact-
ment of this Act, the Secretary and the heads of all Fed-
eral agencies with authority to issue Federal authoriza-
tions shall enter into Memoranda of Understanding to en-
sure the timely and coordinated review and permitting of 
refinery facilities within a Refinery Revitalization Zone. 
The head of each Federal agency with authority to issue 
a Federal authorization shall designate a senior official re-
sponsible for, and dedicate sufficient other staff and re-
sources to ensure, full implementation of the Department
of Energy regulations and any Memoranda under this sub-
section. Interested Indian Tribes and State and local agen-
cies may enter such Memoranda of Understanding. 
SEC. 6. DEFINITIONS. 
For purposes of this Act—
(1) the term ‘‘Federal authorization’’ means 
any authorization required under Federal law (in-
cluding the Clean Air Act, the Federal Water Pollu-
tion Control Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensa-
tion, and Liability Act of 1980, the Solid Waste Dis-
posal Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the 
National Historic Preservation Act, and the Na-
tional Environmental Policy Act of 1969) in order to 
site, construct, upgrade, or operate a refinery facility 
within a Refinery Revitalization Zone, including such 
permits, special use authorizations, certifications, 
opinions, or other approvals as may be required, 
whether issued by a Federal, State or local agency; 
(2) the term ‘‘idle refinery’’ means any intact 
refinery facility that has not been in operation after 
June 1, 2004; and 
(3) the term ‘‘refinery facility’’ means any facil-
ity designed and operated to refine raw crude oil 
into gasoline, heating oil, diesel fuel, or jet fuel by
any chemical or physical process, including distilla-
tion, fluid catalytic cracking, hydrocracking, coking, 
alkylation, etherification, polymerization, catalytic 
reforming, isomerization, hydrotreating, blending, 
and any combination thereof.
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