Strategic Petroleum Reserve Reform Act

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 3816 To authorize the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program to lease underused facilities of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and for other purposes. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES MAY 21, 2020 Mr. CASSIDY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources A BILL To authorize the Secretary of Energy to carry out a program to lease underused facilities of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Strategic Petroleum 4 Reserve Reform Act’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3816.IS S3816 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •S 3816 IS SEC. 2. USE OF UNDERUSED STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RE- 1 SERVE FACILITIES. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Section 168 of the Energy Policy 3 and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6247a) is amended to 4 read as follows: 5 ‘‘SEC. 168. USE OF UNDERUSED FACILITIES. 6 ‘‘(a) LEASING OF FACILITIES.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Notwithstanding any other 8 provision of this title, the Secretary may establish a 9 program (referred to in this section as the ‘pro- 10 gram’) under which the Secretary may lease 11 underused storage facilities and related facilities of 12 the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to private entities 13 and foreign governments for any term and under 14 such other conditions as the Secretary considers nec- 15 essary or appropriate. 16 ‘‘(2) EXCLUSION FROM STRATEGIC PETROLEUM 17 RESERVE.—Petroleum products stored in a storage 18 facility or related facility leased under the program 19 shall not be part of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 20 ‘‘(b) PROTECTION OF FACILITIES.—Each lease en- 21 tered into under the program shall contain provisions re- 22 quiring the lessee to pay fees to fully compensate the 23 United States for all costs relating to the storage and re- 24 moval of petroleum products (including the proportionate 25 cost of any replacement facility necessitated as a result 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3816.IS S3816 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •S 3816 IS of any withdrawal) incurred by the United States as a re- 1 sult of the lease. 2 ‘‘(c) ACCESS TO PETROLEUM PRODUCTS BY THE 3 UNITED STATES.—The Secretary shall ensure that each 4 lease entered into under the program shall not impair the 5 ability of the United States to withdraw, distribute, or sell 6 petroleum products from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 7 in response to— 8 ‘‘(1) an energy emergency; or 9 ‘‘(2) the obligations of the United States under 10 the international energy program. 11 ‘‘(d) NATIONAL SECURITY.—The Secretary shall en- 12 sure that any lease entered into under the program with 13 a foreign government shall not impair national security. 14 ‘‘(e) DEPOSITS OF AMOUNTS RECEIVED.— 15 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 16 graph (2), amounts received from a lease entered 17 into under the program shall be deposited in the 18 general fund of the Treasury during the fiscal year 19 in which the amounts are received. 20 ‘‘(2) PAYMENT OF COSTS.— 21 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in 22 subparagraph (B), the Secretary, without fur- 23 ther appropriation, may use amounts received 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3816.IS S3816 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •S 3816 IS from a lease entered into under the program for 1 the costs described in subsection (b). 2 ‘‘(B) EXCEPTION.—The Secretary may not 3 use amounts received from a lease entered into 4 under the program for any cost for additions or 5 changes described in subsection (f)(1). 6 ‘‘(f) PREPARATION OF FACILITIES.— 7 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In using amounts available 8 in the Energy Security and Infrastructure Mod- 9 ernization Fund established by section 404 of the 10 Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 (42 U.S.C. 6239 11 note; Public Law 114–74) (referred to in this sub- 12 section as the ‘Fund’) for costs described in sub- 13 section (b), the Secretary shall only use amounts for 14 costs that relate to the addition of a facility or 15 changes to a facility or facility operations necessary 16 to lease the facility, including costs relating to— 17 ‘‘(A) the acquisition of land; 18 ‘‘(B) the acquisition of any ancillary facil- 19 ity or equipment; 20 ‘‘(C) site development; and 21 ‘‘(D) other necessary costs relating to cap- 22 ital improvement. 23 ‘‘(2) EFFECT.—Nothing in this subsection al- 24 ters or limits the authority of the Secretary to use 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3816.IS S3816 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •S 3816 IS amounts in the Fund for the uses authorized by sec- 1 tion 404(d) of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 2 (42 U.S.C. 6239 note; Public Law 114–74).’’. 3 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 4 tents for the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 5 U.S.C. prec. 6201) is amended by striking the item relat- 6 ing to section 168 and inserting the following: 7 ‘‘Sec. 168. Use of underused facilities.’’. SEC. 3. PROGRAM TO LEASE STRATEGIC PETROLEUM RE- 8 SERVE FACILITIES. 9 (a) IN GENERAL.—Part B of title I of the Energy 10 Policy and Conservation Act (42 U.S.C. 6231 et seq.) is 11 amended by adding at the end the following: 12 ‘‘SEC. 170. PROGRAM TO LEASE STORAGE AND RELATED 13 FACILITIES. 14 ‘‘(a) ESTABLISHMENT.—Not later than 180 days 15 after the date of enactment of the Strategic Petroleum Re- 16 serve Reform Act, as part of the program established 17 under section 168, the Secretary shall establish a program 18 (referred to in this section as the ‘program’) to make avail- 19 able for lease— 20 ‘‘(1) capacity for storage of not more than 21 200,000,000 barrels of petroleum products at stor- 22 age facilities of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve; 23 and 24 ‘‘(2) related facilities. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S3816.IS S3816 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •S 3816 IS ‘‘(b) CONTENTS.—In carrying out the program, the 1 Secretary shall— 2 ‘‘(1) identify appropriate storage facilities and 3 related facilities of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve 4 to lease, to make maximum use of those facilities; 5 ‘‘(2) identify and implement any changes to fa- 6 cilities or facility operations necessary to lease the 7 facilities identified under paragraph (1), including 8 any changes necessary to ensure the long-term 9 structural viability and use of the facilities for pur- 10 poses of this part and part C; 11 ‘‘(3) make the facilities identified under para- 12 graph (1) available for lease; and 13 ‘‘(4) identify environmental effects, including 14 benefits, of leasing storage facilities and related fa- 15 cilities of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. 16 ‘‘(c) REPORT.—Not later than 18 months after the 17 date of enactment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve Re- 18 form Act, the Secretary shall submit to Congress a report 19 describing the status of the program.’’. 20 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENT.—The table of con- 21 tents for the Energy Policy and Conservation Act (42 22 U.S.C. prec. 6201) is amended by adding at the end of 23 the items relating to part B of title I the following: 24 ‘‘Sec. 170. Program to lease storage and related facilities.’’. Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 04:36 Jun 13, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S3816.IS S3816 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS