Congress Passes bill to Address Oil Refinery Shortages in United States
Gas prices have become a big deal throughout the country. Here Congress has passed bill 5254 to address this issue. This bill has obvious political ramnifications. It also has huge supply-side potential. More U.S. refineries makes will lower fuel prices around the world.
"No new refinery has been built in the United States in 30 years, and the high gas prices we're experiencing at the pump are directly related to our nation's lack of refinery capacity," Souder said. "In fact, there are currently 148 operating refineries in the United States, down from 324 in 1981. The result has been a bottleneck in domestic refining and an increased reliance on foreign refineries. This bill would make it easier to construct new refineries here in the United States."
"In early May, the Democrats took advantage of the parliamentary process and killed this bill," Souder added. "Fortunately, we were able to bring it back up for consideration, and it was passed today." - Congressman Mark Souder (IN3), co-author of the bill.
The Refinery Permit Process Schedule Act would:
- Establish a federal coordinator to convene all U.S. government agencies responsible for issuing permits to develop a refinery facility, and help them coordinate and expedite their schedules so that decisions on permits can move more efficiently;
- direct the President to identify at least three closed military bases as suitable sites for new refineries, one of which must be designated for biofuel refining;
- give the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency priority in the scheduling coordination, thereby preserving the strict environmental standards that must be met for these facilities to be developed.
H.R. 5254 will now be sent to the Senate for further action.
posted by PoliticalNut at 9:53 AM
6 Comments:
Lucy,
How would that be better than building more refineries? Wasting money on renewable energy research isn't going to reduce the cost of gasoline in America. People cannot afford the new cars that use the renewable or lower emmissions fuel.
Jon,
Refineries may help in the short term... well, not VERY short, since they will take time to build and bring to full capacity... but in the long term they will be pointless as our oil pumping capacity is starting to slow.
Sure, there will be oil for quite some time to come, but the supply will be continuously shrinking so that more refinery capacity will soon be useless.
Add this as one more case of Congress just making themselves look good without actually DOING anything.
RE, on the other hand is renewable. Who'da thunk!
Funny how everyone has a conclusion about oil as a resourse and does not study the issue.
The facts are we have enough oil right here in the country to not depend on Opec and the rest of those snakes. We have it in shale and coal. The building of refineries is exactly what is needed here. Along with more wind farms.
Here, here, Lilfeathers.
Besides, Lucy, why wouldn't you do everything within in your means to bring energy costs down. People are so myopic when it comes to this issue.
We should be building more refineries, drilling for our own oil, and refining alternative fuel sources as to make it more palatable for everyone.
If we do all of these things, we won't be beholden to sh_t countries like Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, et al.
I agree with terrapraeta.
If they wanted to help the American people with gas prices, maybe they should have done it when peak gas usage occurred at the same time as gas prices rose past $3.00.
This smacks of political advantage. It makes sense to increase supply when prices are falling, right?
I know that this bill had been in the works since the end of last year. The machinations of Congress caused it to be introduced in June when prices were at $3+.
Joshua, look at the date of the post.
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