IV 
117TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 1184 
Urging the use of the Defense Production Act of 1950 to expand short- 
term refinery capacity. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JUNE 16, 2022 
Mr. KRISHNAMOORTHI (for himself, Ms. SPANBERGER, and Ms. DAVIDS of 
Kansas) submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the 
Committee on Energy and Commerce, and in addition to the Committee 
on Financial Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the 
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within 
the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
RESOLUTION 
Urging the use of the Defense Production Act of 1950 to 
expand short-term refinery capacity. 
Whereas rising gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel prices are exacer-
bating inflation and reducing the purchasing power of 
American consumers, especially low-income households; 
Whereas historic fuel prices are due in large part to high oil 
prices, but a global shortage of oil refining capacity has 
further driven up the cost of refined petroleum products, 
causing fuel prices to outpace oil prices; 
Whereas global oil refining capacity is now over 3,000,000 
barrels per day below prepandemic levels, and domestic 
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•HRES 1184 IH 
refining capacity in the United States is currently around 
1,000,000 barrels per day below prepandemic capacity; 
Whereas much like crude oil production, which declined pre-
cipitously during the pandemic as demand for oil plum-
meted, demand for oil refineries also plummeted, and 
many companies decided to shut down their refineries 
rather than continue running at a loss; 
Whereas, in 2020, the Shell refinery in Convent, Louisiana, 
capable of refining 211,146 barrels of crude oil per day, 
and the Marathon refinery in Martinez, California, capa-
ble of refining 161,000 barrels per day, were powered 
down due to low demand; 
Whereas the Philadelphia Energy Solutions refinery, which 
had been offline following an accident, was permanently 
shuttered, and the Phillips 66 refinery in Belle Chasse, 
Louisiana, which had suffered water damage during Hur-
ricane Ida, was similarly closed permanently; 
Whereas oil production is recovering to prepandemic levels, 
but without enough oil refining capacity, the refineries 
will act as a bottleneck, limiting the supply of gasoline 
and keeping fuel prices elevated; 
Whereas the ‘‘crack spread’’, the profit margin between crude 
oil and refined fuels, has reached a near record high, but 
companies are not investing in new refining capacity in 
the United States; 
Whereas despite high profit margins and a shortage of refin-
ing capacity, several refineries that were idled during the 
pandemic are now being permanently decommissioned, 
contributing to record high gas prices and even higher 
diesel prices; 
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•HRES 1184 IH 
Whereas while combating climate change will require a rapid 
reduction in the use of fossil fuels, the United States is 
not yet in a position to completely replace combustion en-
gines with electric vehicles; and 
Whereas a long-term expansion of oil production beyond 
prepandemic levels could put us on a path to climate ca-
tastrophe, but restarting idled American oil refineries for 
a limited time could reduce gas prices and cool infla-
tionary pressures without endangering our climate goals: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) any effort to increase the supply of oil and 
gas to address urgent inflationary challenges must 
not be implemented at the expense of the climate 
goals of the United States; 
(2) Congress should support policies to appro-
priately increase refinery capacity as much as is nec-
essary to meet current fuel demands over the short- 
term, while continuing to invest in policies that re-
duce reliance on fossil fuels over the longer term; 
and 
(3) in order to ensure sufficient refining capac-
ity to reduce fuel prices and prevent fuel shortages 
in the near term, the President should use authori-
ties granted him by the Defense Production Act of 
1950 to provide targeted technical and financial as-
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